Find man’s best friend with Petfinder
Where to find it: Petfinder – www.petfinder.com
Who runs the site: Petfinder is a directory of pets available from animal shelters and rescue groups throughout the United States. It is maintained by volunteers from the individual rescue groups who upload photos and information about the pets they have available.
Who is likely to use the site: Nonprofit rescue groups and shelters who want to get the word out about pets available for adoption as well as people looking to add an animal to their lives.
Pros: The site is easy to search and it has tons of listings. The search features let users choose the type of pet they want – a cat, dog, or more exotic pets such as rabbits, reptiles and birds – and they can choose the region they want to look in, the age of the pet and the size. Most listings have a picture of the animal as well as a description of their personality – volunteers write up the listings so some are more complete than others.
One of the cool things about the site is that for people who have a specific breed in mind the site will list a variety of locations where they can find the animals. A quick search for Yorkshire terriers found a rescue group in Oakland that has one available.
Users can also search for a specific rescue group. SHARE, a local group in San Benito, lists a variety of cats from adults to kittens that are currently available for adoption. The Friends of the San Martin Animal Shelter is another local group that has listings on Petfinder.
Cons: There are so many pets available, it might be impossible to choose just one. Plus, it is hard to get the personality of an animal from a couple paragraphs and a photograph. And there are other rescue groups and shelters in the area, including Pet Friends and the Hollister Animal Shelter, that also have plenty of pets available for adoption that are not listed on the site.
