SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) – The pandemic has left many people feeling alone, turning to furry companions for comfort. At the peak of the pandemic, pets were being adopted at extremely high rates and as the one year mark passes from the start of the pandemic, it is clear how much it has changed the adoption process.
At the Central New York SPCA, the narrow hallways are usually filled with families meeting and greeting their potential pets. Now, barely a dog bark or a cat purr can be heard. Meet and greets are now only by appointment and one family at a time. With fewer visits due to the lack of social distancing in the shelter, volunteers and workers have had to get creative with how to get the word out about the animals.
Head of Education for the CNY SPCA, Dee Schaefer, said social media has been the difference for them during the pandemic. Since she started working at the shelter four years ago, the Facebook page has gained over 15,000 followers.
Schaefer manages all their social media which ranges from Facebook, Instagram and Twitter as well as their website. She also mentioned there is a social media team of volunteers who haven’t been able to go inside the shelter, but use their normal volunteer hours spent in the shelter to expanding their social media with informational posts about the animals online.
Schaefer says that in reference to the major decrease in visitations due to the pandemic that, “how else are we going to get our animals seen?” and that, “social media is an amazing tool.”
The CNY SPCA isn’t the only animal adoption business utilizing social media. Pet owner; Avideh Saeed; adopted her dog in the midst of the pandemic from a breeder’s instagram page. Unable to meet her dog until she went to take him home, she said the breeder would send her Instagram posts of her dog and his litter-mates from birth all the way until the eight week mark where she could pick him up.
Saeed was very happy with the process. Even though she didn’t get to meet her dog along the way, she said the use of social media posts from the breeder “really just helped [her] get a better feel for who she is and her business as a whole” and, “it allowed me to get to know my dog before I got him.”
For Schaefer and the CNY SPCA, they’ve been able to keep a steady number of adoptions throughout the pandemic thanks to their social media presence. Although numbers are slightly down compared to other years, Schaefer said they’ve had nearly 800 adoptions in the last year, with 136 of those in the first two months of 2021.
As a light at the end of the tunnel for the pandemic nears and in person activities can reopen again, Schaefer said they plan to continue with limitations on the number of people in the shelter. She said it’s been very helpful for the animals’ well-being and that their social media use will carry over after the pandemic.
