We all could use a little love

Eager pet-lovers — adults and children — waited patiently to adopt a dog, cat, or both from the Love Wanted Adoption truck parked outside Trinity Church at 91st Street and Third Avenue on Saturday, June 22 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The organization has completed approximately 1,800 pet adoptions. Mary Jo Tobin, founder of Love Wanted Adoption and author of Love Wanted: True Tails of Love, Loss and Redemption, was an avid pet-lover even during her days as event planner at Merrill Lynch.

Love Wanted takes “the show on the road” due to the overwhelming and stressful environment of animal shelters — there is a happier and lighter atmosphere with the Love Wanted trucks, especially when you see fellow volunteers and neighbors interacting with pets outside the cage.

Tobin recalled working at a local animal shelter for six weeks – a stint that resulted in her adoption of 10 pets, “I cried my eyes out every single day. They would say, ‘This one is going down in 10 minutes, anybody taking it?’ and I would say ‘give it to me.’”

From that moment on Tobin knew something had to be done.

“When I first left Wall Street, I wanted to do something using the skills I learned but with shelter pets. I did one of our Love Wanted events, and we had 28 adoptions the first day, then it became this thing and it has been amazing,” explained Tobin.

The Love Wanted Adoption events have been the most successful in the New York City area, according to Tobin, who has been planning such events for almost nine years.

“They call me and let me know that the pet needs a home, then I go out of my way to network for them. I never want to see an animal surrender to the shelter,” said Tobin.

A major concern for Tobin and the Love Wanted family is that numerous landlords have no-pet policies or weight restrictions on pets in the building, which has resulted in more animals entering shelters, with less than ideal living conditions.

“Landlords are losing great tenants because a lot of professional people are choosing to have pets rather than children. So these are people who have great jobs, great credit and they have a dog that they love and can’t find apartments because the landlord either doesn’t allow pets or there is a 20-pound weight restriction,” said Tobin, who strongly encourages landlords to reconsider such pet policies.

The Love Wanted Adoption family is always looking for volunteers to make such events a great success while also reaching out to communities about the importance of pet adoption.

There are currently over 60 Love Wanted volunteers who make all of this possible; if you are interested in volunteering, please contact Tobin at lovewantedadoptions@hotmail.com or call 718-986-1363.