By To help animals find their forever homes, the Long Beach Pet Fair returned for its third year with activities including costume contests, presentations, food and craft vendors at Marina Green Park on Oct. 19 – 20.
The event was organized by The Little Lion Foundation, The Cat Cove and Long Beach Animal Care Services, with over 100 vendors featured across both days.
Though entry to the event was free, a $5 donation was highly encouraged to support the animal rescues of mainly dogs, cats and rabbits.
To kick off the Long Beach Pet Fair’s second day on Oct. 20, the event hosted the Long Beach Police Department’s K9 demonstration from 10:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. Photo credit: Isabela Zuniga
Two volunteers with The Little Lion Foundation, Maria Perez and Jeremy Pickle, provided attendees with information about the event. The pair said that the fair is mainly about pet adoptions.
Perez said that when online, people tend to eye the pets and then think about adoption later.
“We find that there have been a lot less adoptions,” Perez said. “We’re hoping by getting them out with some publicity, someone will take a friend home today.”
Perez also said new products, such as litter made out of tofu, are available for people to try.
Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Little Lion Foundation Claudia Otis said the organization’s philanthropic goal for this year’s event is to bring awareness to the community about the need to care for animals.
“Whether they’re stray cats walking around, dogs or shelter animals, they are in major need,” Otis said.
The Little Lion Foundation originally served only neonatal kittens who were brought into their local shelters at Long Beach Animal Care Services, their rescue partners.
The organization now has a foster program that does up to 500 adoptions a year and performs Trap-Neuter-Return, a method to try and stop the continuous births of kittens on the street.
“Our newest big program is that we are opening a spray and neuter clinic, but it’s only for TNR cats,” Otis said.
Co-Founders Jessica Ruth and Claudia Otis of The Little Lion Foundation stand in front of kittens up for adoption at the Long Beach Pet Fair on Oct. 20. Ruth is also the foster coordinator for the organization. Photo Credit: Isabela Zuniga
Since its first year, the Long Beach Pet Fair has grown in popularity, with presenters throughout the event sharing their experience in sheltering and adopting to increase the number of adoptions.
Co-organizer, The Long Beach Animal Care Services, was at the fair to help attendees become involved in pet adoptions and offer resources to anyone who may find stray animals and wishes to help reunite the animals with their owners before they come to the shelter.
Alma Vera-Lima, superintendent of LBACS, said the event is an opportunity to receive visibility of their shelters and let the Long Beach community know they are available.
“A lot of people don’t know where we are and that we’re here,” Vera-Lima said. “We want to empower the community to help the animals in their own communities.”
As of 11:30 a.m. on Sunday, three animals were adopted from LBACS.
“About five minutes ago, a previous adopter from our shelter came and thanked us for finding them a great pet,” Vera-Lima said.
Other than adoptions, LBACS offers pet licensing programs that provide tags and inject microchips into dogs and cats. Vera-Lima said that animal field services are available to handle pet bites and strays at large as well.
Other than the main organizers, volunteers also offered their time to assist at the pet fair, including Cheryl Ferramola and Gusti Lind.
For Ferramola and Lind, the fair was an opportunity for them to help their longtime stay dog, Quicksilver, find a forever home.
“It’s more about Quicksilver, and to get him some exposure,” Ferramola said. “We realized he needs to do more agility training because he wasn’t the best at that.”
The fair also had resources to assist people who struggle with their pet’s behavioral issues. Lind said that the shelter can aid in training the pets with these minor issues and offer veterinarian care.
“These [resources] are things that people can’t typically afford, along with high-end food for [dogs] too,” Lind said.
Held yearly, the Long Beach Pet Fair plans to return next summer on Aug. 20 and 21.
