A former addict turned his life around and started Marley’s Mutts, an organization that helps the most hopeless of rescue and rehabilitation cases. NBC’s Liz McLaughlin reports.

If you’re thinking about taking home a new furry friend, consider heading to a local animal shelter to adopt during Clear the Shelters on Aug. 17 when hundreds of shelters will waive or discount fees as part of the one-day adoption drive.

NBC and Telemundo stations across the country will team up with hundreds of shelters nationwide on Aug. 18 for the fourth annual Clear the Shelters animal adoption drive.

People magazine’s pet vet Dr. Evan Antin provides tips for adopting shelter animals ahead of the fourth annual Clear the Shelters event on Aug. 18.

Animal experts say pets often process loss in a manner similar to humans. In a recent newsletter published by the Funeral Consumer Alliance of Maine, researcher Jessica Pierce says a growing body of research into ‘animal thanatology’ suggests common pets such as dogs and cats seem to share with humans many behavioral reactions to death, such as mourning and rituals...

As part of NBC’s “Clear the Shelters” pet adoption drive, we asked Team USA to share their own “tails” of pet adoption and how these animals have impacted their lives.

Prospective pet owners can now choose the furry friend they want without having to leave their home. Five years after it first launched, the adoption app WeRescue has expanded its reach across the U.S. and in Canada, and has hundreds of thousands of pets available for adoption at over 3,000 rescue organizations. “We pull in data from all these different...

Researchers at the National Institutes of Health have come up withthe most complete and definitive canine family tree, NBC News reported. They’ve spent more than 20 years sampling the genes of 161 breeds of dog, sequencing them and comparing them to show how breeds were mixed and matched to make new breeds. The geneolgy also gives a rough timeline and...

A popular baby hippo at the Cincinnati Zoo will now be featured in a book about her life that will be targeted toward children. NBC affiliate WLWT reports zoo director Thane Maynard is writing about the experience of hand-raising the hippo, who was born 6 weeks premature and is the smallest known newborn hippo to survive.

The support our local stations received from participating animal shelters and rescues, who gave families the opportunity to adopt an animal in need by offering no-cost or waive fee adoptions, or waiving pet spaying and neutering fees, helped make Clear the Shelters overwhelmingly successful. More than 150,000 pets have found their fur-ever homes since 2015.

Jill Karnicki was watching local news on a Saturday morning when she first learned about Ginger, a 14-year-old shepherd mix. Each week, the Houston Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals brings an adoptable pet to a local TV station to highlight as the “Pet of the Week.” The group brought Ginger with the hope of finding the older...

Jane Lynch is throwing a party and she’s inviting all her four-legged friends. You’re invited too. Lynch is joining NBCUniversal Owned Television Stations’ nationwide pet adoption initiative Clear the Shelters as both spokesperson and host of the “Clear the Shelters” TV special that will air on Aug. 25. on NBC and Telemundo stations. The program will recap this year’s adoption...

An Illinois couple’s dog stole the show during his owner’s wedding with his joyful reaction to their nuptial. Angie Blumberg married Jayce Conway at Rainbow Ranch Lodge in Big Sky, Montana, on July 28, NBC affiliate WFLA reported. The couple grew up in the same town and have been best friends since preschool.

Jose and Tammy Vega arrived at the Camden County Animal Shelter in New Jersey early Saturday morning in search of a four-legged companion. The couple, who was first in line at the facility for its Clear the Shelters event, fell in love with a 7-year-old stray Chihuahua named Pot Pie. “He was just really calm tempered, my wife looked over...

Celebrities are hailing Clear the Shelters Day and celebrating the more than 76,000 pets that have found forever homes during the nationwide animal adoption campaign today. Celebs, such as Ellen DeGeneres, Jane Lynch and Wanda Sykes, have sent well wishes to the pets across America in search of a place to call home. “It’s a great day to make a...

Ahead of the fifth annual Clear the Shelters animal adoption initiative, NBC and Telemundo stations teamed with Michelson Found Animals for a month-long fundraising campaign. The Fund the Shelters Challenge raised almost $1.6 million for animal welfare groups across the country. The money will help offset the cost of offering reduced or waived fees during Clear the Shelters, as well...

The dog days of summer are here and as the mercury rises, so does the spirits of shelter animals around the country. That’s because Clear the Shelters is back. NBC and Telemundo stations’ are teaming up with shelters nationwide on Aug. 17 for the fifth annual animal adoption drive.

Temperatures soared to 96 degrees in Wilmington, North Carolina on Thursday. So, Melissa Martin and Denise Mintz gathered up their dogs Abby, Harpo and Izzy and headed to a nearby pond for a swim. Hours later, all three pups were dead.

Clear the Shelters, the fifth annual pet adoption drive sponsored by NBC and Telemundo stations, culminated Saturday with more than 2,000 shelters participating in dozens of communities across the country. Animals lovers nationwide lined up early for a chance to find the purrfect pet to take home. Shelters in Florida, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Ohio, Illinois, North Carolina, Missouri, New York and...

Grammy award-winning artist Kelly Clarkson will host this year’s Clear the Shelters special, a 30-minute show recapping the NBC and Telemundo stations annual pet adoption drive. The program will air on NBC stations beginning Aug. 23 (check local listings).