The Best Friends National Adoption Weekend is coming up July 22nd-24th. This network partner exclusive event helps organizations like yours adopt more animals. To learn more about the event and to register, check out this link: https://network.bestfriends.org/join-us/events/best-friends-national-adoption-event

To get us all geared up for the adoption event, we're dipping into the archives to revisit one of our favorite adoption-themed episodes.

Every time someone chooses to adopt an animal, we have the opportunity to positively change that person's life and save an animal's life. So why do we still put up so many barriers that make adopting an animal so unreasonably difficult?

The reasons to deny a pet adoption are as vast as they are inane. Sometimes it's because of age (of the adopter and/or the pet). Others because they are a renter, while another potential adopter may own a home, a fenceless yard can lead to rejection. Some organizations go so far as asking if you plan to have children anytime in the next decade. Unfortunately, this often grueling and unnecessarily invasive adoption process does little to determine how much a pet will be cared for and drives good people away from our lifesaving work.

This week we speak with Lawrence Nicolas, the Chief Operating Officer for the Peggy Adams Animal Rescue League in West Palm Beach, Florida (currently, he is the COO of the Jacksonville Humane Society in Florida). Lawrence tells us about their open adoption process that sends roughly 6,000 animals to new homes each year while maintaining a return rate of under 4 percent.

Check out the website for The Best Friends Podcast: bestfriends.org/podcast