The nationwide effort to get animals into forever homes made its way to Erie where six local animal shelters participated in Clear the Shelters.

Nicole Leone, the Executive Director of the Erie Humane Society said, "We have a goal to get as many as cats and dogs and kittens and puppies adopted as possible."
From the Erie Humane Society to the ANNA Shelter, local animal shelters were busy helping animals find new homes on Saturday as part of Clear the Shelters.

The goal for Clear the Shelters is to get as many of dogs and cats into new and loving homes and get as many of the cages empty.


But with hundreds of cats and dogs looking for new homes, staff at the ANNA Shelter said it can get overwhelming.


Ruth Thompson, the co-founder of the ANNA Shelter said, "I think about it as one at a time it helps, just making room. It's the only way we can make room for animals either that get reclaimed by their original owners or adopted into their new homes are the only ways we make room for them, so the more we can get out of here, the more we can make room for others."


People started to adopt new pets when shelters opened early on Saturday, including Sydney Lesseki, who adopted her third pet from the ANNA Shelter.

"Because of the Clear the Shelter event I know important it is to make room for other animals to come in and I have more than enough room in my home and I love both cats and dogs and I figured why not add one more to the family", said Lesseki.


But if you weren't ready to add to your family on Saturday, staff at the Erie Humane Society suggested coming in for a visit to get used to the idea of a new pet.
"Just stop into the Erie Humane Society, we have a lot of really knowledgeable vet techs and employees that work here along with our volunteers and our trainer, she can meet with you, talk to you about the basics about getting a pet for the first time, we're here to be a resource", explained Leone.