Five Acres is a place that helps animals find their forever home, and the kind of place where everyone is welcomed with kindness when they step in the door. It’s a place that many want to be at and volunteer at. Five Acres is a home for all animals. One of Five Acres’ biggest challenges is getting animals adopted, because many people do not want an animal from a shelter. This is where Mallary Vasquez, Five Acres engagement manager, comes to the rescue.
“Our mission is to end pet homelessness,” Vasquez said. “Support animal welfare and help people treat their pets better, and to help the animals get into good homes.”
Finding animals’ good homes is a really big part of Vasquez’s role. When talking to Victoria Hale about her dog that she adopted, Hale gave a reason on why she chose to adopt from a shelter.
“I love the fact that I saved a life,” Hale said. “Shelters are so overcrowded with dogs. Riley is such a fantastic dog, I couldn’t imagine my life without her.”
Danielle Kirby, mother of an FHN student, gave the same reasons about why she adopted animals. Kirby has gotten three animals from shelters.
“We have always gotten dogs from shelters,” Kirby said. “They tend to be the best dogs. There are so many dogs without homes, whether it’s because they were born on the streets, or brought into the shelter, we just wanted to give some a home.”
Five Acres has been helping the community and animals since 1970, eventually expanding their building because of the large number of animals they have helped.
“We are really great with the community we have, we have a lot of people come in to adopt animals,” Vasquez said. “So, including how many have gotten adopted, the amount of animals in the shelter can range from 40 for dogs, to 30 to 40 for cats.”
One thing that people might misunderstand from animal shelters is that the animals might not be clean or healthy, or that the animals will have issues.
“Most people might think the animals aren’t well taken care of,” Kirby said. “They are the complete opposite. All animals there are so well taken care of and all so sweet. People might think that the animals are bad or they will have issues, but they are all so kind and sweet, you will probably find your best friend there.”
Another big challenge shelters face is the adoption of older animals, because people might think that they won’t be playful or they are stuck in their ways.
“Older animals tend to be more mellowed out,” Vasquez said. “They might not be as hyperactive, and they may not pull as hard as a younger animal during tug-of-war, but they still have a lot of energy that they need to burn off.”
Shelters face a lot of difficult challenges, but they look at the good in every situation. No matter what it is, they try their hardest to get all of their animals adopted.
“All animals deserve to be in homes,” Vasquez said. “They don’t deserve to spend long periods of their lives in a shelter, because a shelter is only a temporary home until they find their real one. All of our animals are really sweet, they will tug on your heart strings, and they can live a very long and happy life in a good home. One that we can’t fully give them.”
