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Tour For Life: Our Most Successful Life-Saving Journey Ever!

For the 13th year in a row, North Shore Animal League America’s Mobile Rescue & Adoption Units hit the road for the Tour For Life®, a life-saving nationwide journey covering more than 17,000 miles to work with shelters and rescue groups to bring attention to and find homes for the wonderful homeless animals in their care known as Mutt-i-grees®. The tour was sponsored by Purina ONE®.

This year’s two-month-long Tour For Life was the largest ever, with four of our “shelters on wheels” stopping in 51 cities in 26 states, plus Washington D.C. Over 2,000 Mutt-i-grees were adopted as a result of the tour—the largest number of dogs, cats, puppies and kittens in Tour For Life history!

Animal League America welcomed a huge crowd of animal lovers at the Tour’s last stop: a Grand Finale Pet Adoption celebration held at Times Square Pedestrian Plaza on Friday, May 10th. See photos from the finale event on our Facebook page.

“Thanks to the dedication of our staff and our partners in rescue around the country, this year’s Tour For Life produced a number of notable records at the adoption events,” says Joanne Yohannan, Senior VP of Operations at Animal League America.

She cites some of the many successes: We had the highest producing single-day event to date, with 184 adoptions on March 14 in West Palm Beach, Florida; during our three-day visit to Abilene, Texas, our collaboration with Rescue the Animals SPCA resulted in the adoption of 340 animals—an increase of more than 100 over last year’s Abilene total; and in North Little Rock, Arkansas, 58 animals found their homes, up from just 14 last year.

“These historic numbers are proof that the message of the Mutt-i-grees Movement is taking hold all across the nation,” says Animal League America President John Stevenson. “As more and more people realize that shelter pets are vibrant, healthy and loving animals, we will see adoption numbers continue to increase, which will help us reach our goal of ending the unnecessary euthanasia of 4 million innocent animals each year in our country.”

One important way people can show their pride in their rescued animals is to sign up on the Mutt-i-grees Registry (click here). “Every animal adopted from a shelter or any rescue organization is one of a kind, and that deserves a badge of distinction,” says Stevenson. “We created the Registry to encourage animal lovers to share the news that adopting a Mutt-i-gree is the right choice. By signing up, you not only receive a personalized certificate that celebrates your own animal, but you also become part of the movement to create a no-kill nation.”

Animal League America wants to offer its most sincere thanks to this year’s Tour For Life spokesperson, Renée Felice Smith, of CBS’s NCIS: Los Angeles. Although Renée’s filming schedule precluded her from joining us at the Finale, she has played an important role in this year’s Tour, visiting stops in California and helping us get the message out that adopting Mutt-i-grees is the life-saving choice.

“I have been honored to act as spokesperson for this life-saving, national event,” says Smith. “The plight of the shelter pet, also known as a Mutt-i-gree®, is one that I hold close to my heart, and events such as Tour For Life remind us of the unchanging love animals bring to our lives!”

The life-saving impact of Tour For Life doesn’t stop once the journey is over, Yohannan adds. “The Tour raises awareness that shelter animals are truly the most wonderful companions in the world. When people meet these beautiful animals, they will never again believe that shelter pets are in any way second best, and they’ll spread the word that adoption is the best way to add a loving companion to your life.”

To read happy adoption stories and see photos from Tour For Life, please visit our Facebook page.


Tour for Life Route Information