Va. in middle of rankings when it comes to pandemic pet adoptions

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Technology Today
By: Sun Gazette Newspapers
Published: February 20, 2022

Virginia sat in the middle of the pack when it came to adopting dogs and cats during the early part of the pandemic, according to new data.

Honest Paws recently released a state-by-state ranking of adoptions from shelters, finding that, for 2020, Virginians adopted pets at the rate of 845 per 100,000 residents, despite public-health conditions that saw shelters reduce hours and in some cases prohibit in-person viewings entirely.

The adoption rate per 100,000 residents for the year ranged from 226 in Connecticut up to 1,706 in Idaho, based on Shelter Animals Count – the National Database.

Behind Idaho at the top of the ranking were Colorado (1,619), Montana (1,537), Delaware (1,314), New Mexico (1,225) and Nevada (1,183). On the other side of the coin, some of the lowest adoption rates were found in Massachusetts (296), New Jersey (359) and New York (360).

States at the lower end of the spectrum tended to be those with more stringent, and longer-lasting, government-mandated lockdowns in 2020.

In raw terms, California had the largest number of adoptions from shelters during the year, at 256,739 (650 per 100,000), followed by Texas at 219,173 (756 per 100,000) and Florida at 203,386 (974 per 100,000).

Honest Paws is a pet-wellness brand that prides itself on its products’ not only being made in America but also being made of natural, organic ingredients.

[Sun Gazette Newspapers provides content to, but otherwise is unaffiliated with, InsideNoVa or Rappahannock Media LLC.]