DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – If you have room for a few extra paws around your Thanksgiving table this year, the Halifax Humane Society is asking for animal lovers to spend the holiday weekend with some of its adoptable pets.

What You Need To Know

  • Shelter hoping to find animals homes

  • Halifax Humane Society has a "We're Stuffed" program

  • Shelter letting people can take pets home for the holiday in hopes they adopt them

It’s part of a program called “We’re Stuffed.” Shelter staff explained while their shelter emptied out near the start of the pandemic, now they are nearly full.

Through this program, they are hoping some holiday fosters will take home a dog or a cat to spend Thanksgiving with. They have 42 dogs and 22 cats that can be picked up for this program. Fosters can pick up their furry friend on this Wednesday and keep them through Monday. The Humane Society believes that during these difficult times, more people than ever before could use really use a pet to brighten up their holiday season. 

“I think a lot of people are going to be alone because the CDC is really recommending not to travel, not to spend time with family, even close family so a lot of times people don't want to be alone so they might want to spend that time with a dog or a cat, said Barry Kukas, Community Outreach Director at Halifax Humane Society.​ "It would be a really nice thing to do."

The Humane Society is hoping that the people who do take a pet home fall in love and decide to keep it. If that happens, they are waiving adoption fees on cats and giving a 60 percent discount on dogs. If that does not happen, the Humane Society says it is still nice for the pets to spend the holiday weekend in a real home. 

According to Kukas, they did a similar program last Thanksgiving. He said about 50 percent of the animals that were taken out for the holiday ended up being adopted by their holiday hosts. 

To take home a dog or cat for this Thanksgiving program, go the Halifax Humane Society in Daytona Beach on Wednesday. After potential fosters are vetted by shelter staff, animals will be given out on a first-come, first-served basis. Only animals that are spayed/neutered and have all their shots will be allowed to leave as part of the program. Those pets will be marked with a Thanksgiving sign on their kennel.