Katie Winkelman
Sartell, MN
Betsy Banks Saul and Jared Saul came up with the idea of Petfinder.com in early 1996 as a resolution to do something for homeless animals. They were not active in the animal sheltering community, but had skills with computers and graphic design. Overriding that, was a strong interest in animals. At first, the site was limited to their home state of New Jersey and was simply a labor of love. Demand and popularity led to rapid national and international expansion. Petfinder has always been a free service for shelters and rescue groups as well as potential adopters. Basically, Petfinder.com is an online database of adoptable pets in the care of about 13,000 animal welfare organizations in the United States, Canada and Mexico. The site has facilitated 17 million adoptions in its first 15years. At any one time, 300,000 adoptable pets are listed: dogs, cats, rabbits, birds, small furry animals, horses, pigs and more. Some animal welfare groups report they have more than doubled their adoptions as a result of Petfinder listings and others claim up to 90 percent of their adoptions are a result of people finding them on Petfinder. Users can search by kind of animal, breed, gender, size and/or age and more. The results of the search are ranked in proximity to the user’s zip code. Each participating shelter and rescue group has its own home page and pet list on the site. The pets have their own home pages, too, with a description and usually a photograph… or three. Shelter personnel and volunteers keep the lists of pets continuously updated, so the number of pets changes daily. The site is free to both the public and shelters and rescue groups. The site also includes discussion boards, a resource library and classified ads. What’s so wonderful is that Petfinder.com is supported by sponsorship and free to potential adopters and to its members and if you’re wanting a purebred animal, you can find him or her on Petfinder and rescue him/her too! Many shelters and rescue groups get in purebred animals and many breed-specific rescues post their animals on Petfinder.com. I highly suggest finding your new friend on Petfinder.com!