GREENSBORO, N.C. — It was love at first sight for new cat dad Paul Corbit. But the first time he saw little Gwen was not in person at the SPCA of the Triad, but instead on petfinder.com.
"Happened upon her, immediately bookmarked and took a screenshot," Corbit said.
The website says shelters that utilize the free service to list their animals see a 40-percent increase in adoption. The SPCA agrees.
"We get like 15 plus e-mails a day where people are asking about that," one volunteer said. "It's where people are looking. It's easy to look on the computer and find a pet to meet your need."
But if you looked for animals at Guilford County Animals Shelters, no results would be found. New shelter director, Jorge Ortega says he knows it's a problem and he's working on getting a software upgrade that would post the animals automatically as they come in and go out of the shelter.
Right now staff would have to manually enter each dog and cat. It's okay for a smaller rescue like the SPCA, but at the large-scale Guilford County Animal Shelter:
"It would take hours," Ortega said.
Hours every day that would normally be spent doing some other important things.
"I would rather have staff focus on the true animal engagement meaning enrichment, walking or working with a potential adopter," Ortega said.
Legal is looking at the contract for the new software now. It's actually cheaper than the current system and should be ready by March.