Clear the Shelters 2021 Campaign Helps 136K Pets Find Forever Homes

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Press release: NBCUniversal Local 

NBCUniversal Local has recently announced its 2021 Clear The Shelters nationwide pet adoption and donation campaign (August 23 to September 19) led to more than 136,000 pets finding new homes as results continue to be reported. In addition, more than $537,000 has been donated to participating animal shelters and rescues as part of the campaign’s fundraising effort that remains in progress through November 1. Since its 2015 inception, NBCUniversal Local’s Clear The Shelters has resulted in more than 688,000 pet adoptions.

As part of the 2021 Clear The Shelters, NBC and Telemundo owned and affiliated stations covering 219 media markets in the U.S. and Puerto Rico partnered with animal shelters and rescues in their communities to promote pet adoption and raise funds to benefit animal welfare. More than 1,300 animal shelters and rescues in 49 states, Puerto Rico and Guam participated in this year’s campaign.

“We are proud that Clear The Shelters has a meaningful impact in our communities, and we are pleased this year’s campaign helped find thousands of pets new homes and supported animal shelters and rescues in need,” said Meredith McGinn, NBCUniversal Local’s EVP of diginets and original production and Clear The Shelters leader. “We’re fortunate to have the support and collaboration of Hill’s Pet Nutrition, Greater Good Charities, our affiliate stations and other partners to promote animal welfare. We thank everyone who participated by adopting pets and donating to shelters and rescues this year.”

The 2021 Clear The Shelters reached more than 12.6 million people on social media. Social media mentions of Clear The Shelters/Desocupar Los Albergues received nearly 200,000 interactions. On NBCUniversal Local’s digital platforms, Clear The Shelters content earned nearly 650,000 page views, and more than 7.8 million people were reached online through external platforms during the campaign.

For the second consecutive year, Clear The Shelters featured online donations through partners Greater Good Charities and The Animal Rescue Site, which hosted the fundraising and covered all transaction fees so that 100 percent of donations went directly to shelters and rescues in need. Virtual pet adoptions also returned for this year’s campaign through partner Clear The Shelters WeRescue.

Hill’s Pet Nutrition served as the national sponsor for its fourth Clear The Shelters campaign this year. Other 2021 Clear The Shelters partners include iHeartDogs and media partner The Dodo.

Actress and comedian Lauren Ash, best known for NBC’s Superstore, joined the 2021 campaign as spokesperson and host of the Clear The Shelters special that began airing on NBC stations and COZI TV on September 17. Telemundo stations presented the Desocupar Los Albergues special on September 18, which was led by Elva Saray of Acceso Total (Telemundo 52/KVEA) and Adamari López from Telemundo’s hoy Día.

To celebrate the launch of this year’s campaign, NBCUniversal Local, Greater Good Charities, The Animal Rescue Site and Hill’s Pet Nutrition partnered to conduct a special lifesaving pet airlift on August 23. The Clear The Shelters flight mission transported 167 at-risk dogs and cats from overpopulated shelters in New Orleans to Morristown, New Jersey, and New Bedford, Massachusetts. Since being received by St. Hubert’s Animal Welfare Center in New Jersey and Northeast Animal Shelter and the MSPCA-Angell in Massachusetts, 66 of the airlifted dogs and all 99 cats have been adopted into new homes.

Clear The Shelters is an annual, nationwide pet adoption campaign that is spearheaded by NBCUniversal Local, a division of NBCUniversal. Every year, NBCUniversal Local’s NBC and Telemundo owned stations, plus affiliated stations, partner with animal shelters and rescues in their communities to host Clear The Shelters events. NBCUniversal Local’s Clear The Shelters campaign was inspired by a 2014 North Texas pet adoption event hosted by NBC 5 / KXAS and Telemundo 39 / KXTX and dozens of area shelters that resulted in the most adopted pets in one day for North Texas. Since 2015, NBCUniversal Local’s Clear The Shelters pet adoption campaign has resulted in more than 688,000 pets finding new homes.