Black FURday sale is a success at the animal shelters

Lily can barely hold in her excitement, “look see this is our German Shepard.”

A few weeks ago her family put in an application to adopt Caliber from the Santa Maria Animal Shelter and today they got a chance to take him home.

“I’m really happy right now I can’t wait to train him and for him to be by my side all of the time,” says Matthew Beaudet.

Caliber is one of over 40 animals that are being adopted as part of the Black FURday sale. It’s the first time the county is holding this event where families can come and adopt some animals for free and others at a discounted price.

“Events like this when we get the community to come out it really helps to make room for those that are coming in,” says Stacy Silva, Community Outreach Coordinator for the Santa Barbara County Animal Services.

The sale helps to reduce overcrowding at the animal shelters. Recently, 24 dogs were rescued from a Los Alamos home and were being kept at the Santa Maria Animal Shelter.

So far, at least two of those dogs have been adopted.

“As we are talking today we have empty kennels so that’s huge it allows us the opportunity to work with those dogs that much more now,” says Silva.

The sale also helps find homes for dogs like Turtle and cats like Mambo.

“Having your own friendly cat is like having your house feel like a house having someone run around,” says Destinee Garcia.

Garcia and her boyfriend are home from college for the holiday.

She says when she heard about the FURday sale she came down to the animal shelter to find a cat to keep her company while she’s at school.

“I wanted a cat like I saw online cats for sale but I wanted one from the shelter like knowing I would adopt it and rescue it,” she says.

Coordinators at the animal shelter say they plan to hold an event like this again because of it’s success.