The new Kings County Animal Services Pet Adoption Center opened Saturday and literally fills a void. The mall donated the once empty space with hopes of increasing foot traffic at the mall.
"While we have our empty anchor and we're waiting for that to be filled it actually brings a lot of traffic down to this end of the shopping center," said Brown.
Both Brown and the county saw the success of other pet adoption centers at places like the Visalia Mall and River Park. They say the Hanford Mall's adoption center is already a hit.
Kings County Animal Services says this mall adoption center is getting more dogs adopted. Since it's opening on Saturday they've adopted out 15 animals. That's 15 times more than on a normal week at the shelter.
Animal services said at most-- the shelter adopts out two or three animals a week. Usually it's less than that. They say having the pet adoption center will bring down the county's euthanasia rate at the shelter.
Animal Services Director Terri Rockhold said, "We just thought we have a really big problem in the county with pet overpopulation this is a much nicer place softer place for people to come and see animals it's just a feel good showcase."
The pet adoption center also helps place the county shelter in a more positive light. In recent years the shelter came under attack by animal rights activists concerned about shelter conditions and a now-banned animal drop box system.
"The boxes were not the kind of message we wanted to send and that's not who we were but yeah each they're baby steps for us because we've got a long way to go but yeah this is much more us than anything in the past," said Rockhold.
The pet adoption center is open every day the mall is open, except for major holidays.
