OVERLAND PARK, Kan. – There is now a one-of-a-kind pet shelter in the mid-west within a pet store. KC Pet Project just opened its doors inside the Petco in Overland Park. It’s a new partnership designed to make adoption even easier and also to save a few thousand lives in the process.
10-week-old Oscar and his sister, Emma, were both busy looking for some new homes on Sunday, in the puppy room at the newly opened KC Pet Project,. And at the rate things have been going with the organization’s shiny new digs, the 10-week-old terrier mixes and their friends probably won’t wait long.
“This store is fantastic. The staff is as excited as we are and they are ready to get some pets adopted,” said Tori Fugate with KC Pet Project.
The concept of a pet shelter within a pet store is fairly new. The space at the Overland Park location was remodeled by Petco’s foundation specifically for KC pet project.
So far pet lovers have already been streaming through the doors at the location, so it may just be the perfect partnership.
“It’s been fun for our new adopters because they do the paperwork and then say, ‘let’s go shopping,’ and they shop for their pet and pick out all the great stuff they want for their new pet,” said Fugate.
Visiting the new location isn’t much like a trip to the typical shelter.
“This place is amazing. I just got the tour. I will work here today,” said volunteer Anne Marie.
Anne Marie and her boyfriend, Neil Maceachern, have been fostering Lydia, a purebred perineese whose owner surrendered her to the shelter a few weeks ago, now she is ready for adoption.
“She has already made us happy and she is going to make somebody else amazingly happy,” said Maceachern.
The facility features a huge doggie play area, large dog run, and two-room condos for kittens. Not to mention several adoptable pets.
In fact, there are only two things the KC Pet Project’s new Overland Park facility still needs; volunteers and adoptive families.
“If you want to get involved we would love to have you,” said Fugate.
