Talking Clear The Shelters 2022 with Karen Shenoy

In an interview with dvm360®, Karen Shenoy, DVM and chief veterinary officer at Hill's Pet Nutrition, explained the impact and importance of the annual Clear The Shelters campaign. Each year, NBCUniversal Local and Telemundo-owned stations and their affiliates partner with local shelters and rescues to host Clear The Shelters events. Hill's Pet Nutrition has been a part of the campaign for the past 5 years, and Shenoy discusses the role they have played and how they partner with veterinarians across the country.

A partial transcript of the interview is below. View the video for more of the discussion.

Karen Shenoy, DVM: It's so important in helping pets get adopted. It has a huge impact nationwide. In total, since the inception of the campaign, there have been 700,000 pets adopted as a result of the Clear The Shelters campaign, and it grows each year. Last year, there were actually 140,000 pets that were adopted during this time period of the campaign...I'll just emphasize for this year, where we're finding that the number of animals coming into shelters is increasing, the length of stay is increasing, [and] adoption rates are unfortunately slowing. And so, it's a really important time that we help put some emphasis on the fact that there are these pets in shelters needing homes and encourage people if it is the right time to welcome a new pet into their home to consider adopting a pet from a shelter.