Since 2015, over 136,000 pets have found new homes through the stations’ Clear the Shelters campaign

Tune-in to NBC and Telemundo stations beginning Friday, August 25 to watch a “Clear the Shelters” special that will feature exclusive celebrity interviews and a recap of this year’s national pet adoption campaign

NEW YORK, NY – NBCUniversal Owned Television Stations’ third annual nationwide pet adoption campaign – Clear the Shelters – resulted in the adoption of more than 62,000 pets. Launched last month and culminating on Clear the Shelters day, Saturday, August 19, the station’s triennial effort included the participation of over 75 NBC and Telemundo stations from all across the country and nearly one thousand animal shelters. Since 2015, the stations’ Clear the Shelters initiative has resulted in more than 136,000 pet adoptions.

“Our Clear the Shelters campaign was a great success. We're excited that we helped over 60,000 pets find new homes this summer,” said Valari Staab, President of NBCUniversal Owned Television Stations. “We are grateful to the generosity of thousands of families that opened their homes to shelter pets and the support we received from our partner shelters, affiliate stations and sponsors – Petco and VIP Petcare. I am also very thankful to all the news personalities and celebrities that joined our Clear the Shelters social media campaign to help raise awareness about the events and pet adoption issues. Together, we helped to make Clear the Shelters a memorable pet adoption drive and we cannot wait to do it all over again next year.”

Pets of all types found new homes during Clear the Shelters 2017, including two rabbits, "Midnight" and "Cocoa"that were adopted by two girls in San Diego. In Massachusetts, goats, pigs and even horses were adopted. In Arlington, Virginia, "Beaker"a sun conure bird also found a new home. In New Jersey, a small Chihuahua mix dog with a heart murmur was adopted by a man who also had a heart murmur and sought a companion pet.

Reaching more than 95 markets nationwide, the owned stations’ Clear the Shelters campaign included more affiliate television station partners than last year's effort, nearly 30% more shelters and rescues and Petcoand VIP Petcare as returning national sponsors.

The stations’ robust month-long social media campaign reached audiences across multiple platforms and focused on raising awareness about Clear the Shelters day, pet adoption and welfare topics through the use of the hashtags #ClearTheShelters and #DesocuparLosAlbergues. The social media campaign also included a partnership with Snapchat. On August 19, Snapchat showcased the stations’ Clear the Shelters campaign in its “Stories" section. The campaign was also featured in Snapchat’s “Discover” section on both Saturday, August 19 and Sunday, August 20.

The #ClearTheShelters and #DesocuparLosAlbergues hashtags had a combined reach of more than 19.5 million users on Facebook and Twitter. Online, NBC and Telemundo-owned stations websites and apps generated a combined total of 6.1 million page views for content dedicated to the Clear the Shelters / Desocupar los Alberguescampaign; a 48 percent increase from last year. On Clear the Shelters day, August 19, the stations’ digital content doubled in reach and generated a combined total of 1.6 million page views.

Numerous celebrities and news personalities participated in the stations’ social media campaign including Ellen DeGeneres, Chelsea Handler, host of Netflix show Chelsea, EXTRA TV’s Mario Lopez, NBC’s The Good PlaceKristin Bell, E!’s Christine Evangelista, Veronika Obeng, Olivia Pierson, Natalie Halcro, Tyler Henry, Justin Sylvester and Carissa Culiner, Telemundo’s Al Rojo Vivo host Maria Celeste, Telemundo stars Carmen Villalobos, Gregorio Pernia, and Ximena Duque, model Kate Upton, Sex and the City’s Kristin Davis, actress Gabourey Sidibe, Kristin Bauer of the HBO series True Blood and Justin Theroux of HBO’s The Leftovers, among many others.

Audiences can tune-in to NBC and Telemundo stations later this week to watch Clear the Shelters specials that will feature celebrities and their pets and recaps of this year’s pet adoption campaign. Beth Stern, best selling author and animal lover and Katie Lee, host of Cooking Channel’s Beach Bites, co-host of The Kitchen and author, will co-host “Clear the Shelters,” a 30-minute post-adoption drive special that will air beginning Friday, August 25 on the NBC-owned stations plus more than 130 NBC affiliate stations (check local listings). Telemundo stations will air a post-adoption drive special on Saturday, August 26 that will be co-hosted by Stephanie Himonidis “Chiquibaby” and Elva Saray of Telemundo 52 Los Angeles / KVEA (check local listings).

For more information about NBC and Telemundo owned stations’ Clear the Shelters pet adoption campaign, please visit ClearTheShelters.com. To access information in Spanish, please visit DesocuparLosAlbergues.com. You can also follow the effort on social media by using the hashtags #ClearTheShelters and #DesocuparLosAlbergues.