By Megan Sprague

The first Super Adoption Fair in North Carolina will be coming to Lake Norman next weekend. 

Best Friends Utah, one of the country’s largest animal advocacy groups, has been working closely with Friends for Life to put the Cornelius event together, said Jan Scere, of Friends for Life LKN.

“We were first put in touch with BFU while trying to change animal laws in North Carolina,” Scere said. “We’ve been working hard with them to raise awareness and get our shelter in Cornelius built. At the end of 2007, BFU chose North Carolina as one of the states to host their annual fair.”

One of the major highlights that Scere is looking forward to at the May 10 event is the Mutt Strut — a dog walk, trivia game and treasure hunt, all rolled into one.

“We’ve arranged a course where you read the information at each station, answer the questions about spaying and neutering your animals and search for the hidden artifacts given to us by our sponsors,” she said. “It should be really fun.”

Mixed in with the fun will be a good education, which Scere said was the top priority of the fair.

“There is a horrible euthanization rate in North Carolina, simply because people don’t spay or neuter their pets,” she said. “Hopefully, the questions made up by the Humane Society on the Mutt Strut will highlight this. People don’t understand that overcrowded shelters can’t hold puppies and kittens that are too young for their rabies shots. It’s the law that they must be euthanized.

By telling the public about spaying and neutering, hopefully, we are saving lives.“

There will also be lots of activities for children, including face painting and a poster contest.

“We’ll hang the winners in our new shelter when it’s finished,” Scere said.

Plenty of pet organizations and advocacy groups will be on hand to give out information, educating Lake Norman citizens about animal care and treatment.

“We’ll have a speaker from Best Friends Utah, representatives from Freedom Train (a group that transports animals from high kill areas to safe shelters) and the Greg Biffle Foundation, as well as many others,” she said. “It’s not just about cats and dogs, but equines and water fowl, too. Ducks Unlimited will also have a booth set up.“

If all of the information inspires you to bring home a furry friend, the Super Adoption Fair can help with that, too.

“Fifteen rescue groups will each be bringing everything from boxers to pugs to greyhounds, pretty much anything you can think of,” Scere said.

The overcrowding at shelters is a large problem, and a good reason people should adopt from them.

“Right now, in order for all of the pets at shelters to have a home, each person would have to own 22 cats and 8 dogs,” she said. “A cat can have a litter at five months old and if even two kittens from that litter survive and have a litter, you can see how this could become compounded.“

Registration for the Mutt Strut begins at 9 a.m. at Bailey Road Park, with awareness activities and the adoption fair beginning at 10 a.m. and running until 3 p.m. More information is available at http://www.friends4lifelkn.com.

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