Local Foster Hero Recognized for Saving Lives in Asheville

Asheville Humane Society Partners with the Petco Foundation to Celebrate National Foster a Pet Month in June

Asheville Humane Society is celebrating National Foster a Pet Month with the Petco Foundation and Skechers’ charity footwear collection, BOBS from Skechers, by recognizing Local Foster Hero, Dawn Marie Klug, for stepping up and saving animal lives in Asheville.

Dawn regularly fosters dogs who just need a little time out of the shelter to adjust to life in a calm environment. She loves taking on a challenge and doesn’t give up until her foster pet is adopted. By creating a strong social media presence around each of her fosters, Dawn gives them more visibility and a better chance of finding the perfect home.

“We are so fortunate to have foster parents, like Dawn, who open their hearts and homes to pets who might otherwise sit at the shelter for many months,” said Jody Evans, executive director at Asheville Humane Society. “In these challenging times, we’ve needed our foster parents more than ever before, and they continue to step up and save lives.”

“It is an honor to recognize eacg Local Foster Hero who are making a difference in their communities and demonstrating the lifesaving impact of fostering pets,” said Susanne Kogut, president of the Petco Foundation. “During the response to the COVID-19 crisis, we saw a significant spike in the number of people fostering pets. Our goal is to continue this trend, inspire more people to join the pet fostering movement and make pets sheltering in foster homes, versus animal shelters, the new normal. Because, if less than 2% of pet-owning households in the U.S. fostered one pet a year, we could eliminate unnecessary euthanasia in animal shelters tomorrow.”

National Foster a Pet Month is part of the Petco Foundation’s Pledge to Save Pet Lives which encourages animal lovers to adopt, foster, volunteer and/or donate this summer with a goal of inspiring 1.5 million pledges to match the approximate number of pets unnecessarily euthanized in shelters each year in the U.S.

In addition to mobilizing the animal-loving public to help local animal welfare organizations save lives through the COVID-19 crisis, the Petco Foundation’s Pledge to Save Pet Lives included $1M in emergency product and cash donations to animal shelters. This commitment follows the Petco Foundation’s recent distribution of more than $13M to animal welfare organizations nationwide.

To learn more about Asheville Humane Society and how you can help, visit ashevillehumane.org. For more on the Petco Foundation and to take the Pledge to Save Pet Lives, visit petcofoundation.org/pledge and join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.