Nine of nearly 80 dogs who were rescued from neglect last year were put up for adoption at Orange County Animal Services on Saturday.
57 dogs and puppies were rescued in October from the home of two people charged with animal cruelty. A few of the dogs have since had litters, bringing the number up to around 80 dogs and puppies.
Tenille Fox, the communications specialist for OCAS, said the animals couldn’t immediately be put up for adoption because of the need for veterinarian evaluations to determine their ability to be adopted.
A special adoption process has been set up for the rescued dogs. A new group of the rescued dogs will become available for adoption every Saturday at 5 p.m. Those interested in adopting one of the available dogs must submit an application between that Saturday and the following Thursday at 8 a.m.
Those applications are entered into a drawing for each dog, and the winner of that drawing will be announced later that day.
Fox said the shelter received around 6,900 applications by Monday afternoon for the first round of dogs. She said OCAS has gotten hundreds of inquiries regarding the dogs since they were rescued.
“We really appreciate everyone being patient with us on that,” Fox said.
The available dogs can be viewed on the listings page of their website. Because of the high number of inquiries about these dogs, they are not available for one-on-one meetings. People can visit the shelter to see them in-person on the Monday following the Saturday they go up for adoption.
Fox said if you are chosen in the drawing as a potential adopter, OCAS will ask you to come in to meet with management and discuss the possible health concerns of the animal, as well as make sure you and the dog are a good fit.
