The building, made available to Best Friends by Los Angeles real estate developer Ron Gershman and his wife, Catherine, has been renamed the NKLA (No Kill Los Angeles) Pet Adoption Center and will become part of Best Friends Animal Society’s campaign to take the entire city of Los Angeles no-kill by 2017.
“We are profoundly thankful to Ron and Catherine Gershman for providing this wonderful building for the use of Best Friends as we continue our lifesaving work in the City of Los Angeles,” said Gregory Castle, chief executive officer of the Utah-based national animal welfare organization.
Located at 1845 Pontius Ave, the Cape Cod-themed building is part of a trend to bring animals confined in the city’s animal shelters to a more convenient, comfortable retail location where they can be showcased for adoption. Best Friends recently opened a similar facility – the Best Friends Pet Adoption Center – in Salt Lake City.
With its bright, open-air design and striking black/white NKLA graphics, the center will also serve as a sophisticated space where NKLA coalition rescue/shelter organizations can host fundraisers and seminars in beautifully appointed reception and meeting areas.
Ron Gershman stresses the importance of adoption in curbing the number of animals being killed in shelters.
“We endure a relentless cycle that leads to more than four million dogs and cats being killed in our public shelters every year - simply because too few people are willing to adopt,” he said. “The new center provides an entirely new type of adoption experience designed to reach out to those with willing hearts, but reluctant minds. By providing professional service in an inviting and homelike setting, our hope is that centers like this will one day be the norm and the tragic legacy of euthanasia will one day be just a footnote in the history of our love affair with these wonderful companions.”
Castle said this new effort should enable Best Friends to facilitate as many as 1,000 more adoptions each year in Los Angeles.
“We believe that a concentrated effort to get shelter animals adopted in retail-type locations, combined with a proactive spay-neuter program and more awareness about how wonderful shelter pets are, should reduce the need for shelter pets to be killed because there is no safe place,” Castle said.
“The amazing animals at the NKLA Adoption Center are going to prove once and for all that shelter pets are the best option when it comes to adding a four-legged member to your family,” says Marc Peralta, executive director of Best Friends Animal Society Los Angeles, which operates the new facility. “Plus, every time a pet is adopted from our center, it’s like saving two, because we immediately pull another dog or cat from the shelter.”
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