ARLINGTON -- Hadley Worsham stood in front of a cat kennel Friday morning at the Arlington animal shelter and waved to her mother excitedly.
"Look at this one!" the 7-year-old Mansfield girl pleaded to Mary Elyn Worsham. They were looking to adopt a cat to replace Beauty, who died of a sudden illness a few months ago at the age of about 3.Officials with Arlington Animal Services and leaders of the pet advocacy group Friends of Arlington Animal Services hope to see more families like the Worshams. The shelter's cat kennels are near capacity, Animal Services Director Chris Huff said, although as a municipal shelter the facility must take whatever strays are brought in and whatever animals are surrendered by Arlington residents.Thursday was especially busy, with 82 animals taken in, compared with a daily average of 58 for the last few weeks, Huff said.Fifty of those animals were strays, some of which were probably dogs that ran away after being frightened by July Fourth fireworks, she said. Families missing pets should check the city's website, as well as a lost-and-found site that was established after the April 3 tornado outbreak, Huff said. Links to both are at www.arlingtontx.gov/animals."Our website is updated constantly," she said.Officials with the city shelters in Fort Worth, Bedford and Euless said they had not noticed an increase in intakes.On Friday, the Arlington shelter also started a "Rolling Black Out Fridays" promotion that offers half-price adoptions on black dogs and cats. The promotion continues each Friday through Sept. 21.Residents interested in learning more about the shelter's foster program can attend an orientation from 5 to 6:30 p.m. today. Volunteers in the program nurse ill, injured or extremely young pets until they are ready for adoption. The program, which is intended to reduce the need for euthanasia, provides food and supplies for the animals."This is something that people who are concerned about the shelter population might be interested in," Huff said.Besides strays, the shelter took in 14 pets Thursday that were surrendered by their owners."We need to get more people to the shelter," said Kelli Eaves of Friends of Arlington Animal Services, a volunteer group that partners with the city.Staff writer Terry Evans contributed to this report.Patrick M. Walker,817-390-7423Twitter: @patrickmwalker1