‘Paws & Pints’ adoption event hopes to find pets forever homes, local shelter packed to capacity

TYASKIN, Md. – Barks and smiling faces were the main attraction of the Humane Society of Wicomico County’s Paws & Pints adoption event at Boonie’s Restaurant Saturday afternoon.

“Honestly a lot of these events get our dogs adopted or people that have dogs already they tell their friends that this dog might be a good fit,” Volunteer and Vice President Of Board of Directors Cassie Felesky said.

The day included a raffle and a silent auction with 100% of the proceeds going back to support programming for the shelter.

The main goal was to find these furry friends a forever home, as the shelter’s Event Coordinator Whitney Hoffman says the facility now has more dogs than kennels.

“We only have 40 indoor kennels for the dogs but we have over 60 dogs right now,” Hoffman said.

“You walk through the hallway and there’s just dogs stacked. We don’t have any room.”

We’re told this comes as lots of owners are actually surrendering their pets due to rising inflation. “A lot of people are losing their houses and their not able to keep their dogs or the only place they can afford to move doesn’t allow Pitbull’s, which is a major of what we have,” Hoffman said.

“That doesn’t include the strays that we get in that we either found them on the street or people even dump their dogs if they have medical issues,” Felesky said.

The shelter hopes to find owners like Robert Wilkinson who’s adopted with them before and is now a pet owner of four. “My dogs are my kids,” Wilkinson said.

“I just feel that they’re just like us and need to be taken care of.”

I’m told its those connections the Humane Society hopes to make ones that will ultimately last a lifetime. “And they just want to be loved. All these dogs here just want their forever family,” Hoffman said.

To view available animals, click here