If you don’t want to drive out to the Vermilion County Animal Shelter in Tilton, the shelter will come to you.

The shelter’s outreach program is so successful that more than 1,000 fewer animals were euthanized last year.

In 2007, there were 2,010 animals euthanized and 941 adopted. In 2008, there were 929 euthanized and 1,444 adopted, according to interim director, Pete Smith.

For various reasons, potential pet owners don’t want to go to shelters or don’t find it convenient.

“They don’t like to see homeless pets in distress,” Smith said, “so we give them the opportunity to see the pets in a different environment.”

One program involves taking dogs and cats to the Village Mall each Saturday.

Another successful program is the shelter’s partnership with PetSmart. Most weekends, volunteers take dogs and cats to the stores in Champaign, Darien (near Chicago) and Schererville, Ind.

Of those adopted last year, 67 found homes through the PetSmart outreach, Smith said.

“I’m happy with the PetSmart partnership,” Smith said, and the shelter is exploring the possibility of adding other towns.

One requirement is that dogs and cats put up for adoption through the store must be healthy and spayed or neutered, if they’re old enough.

Last weekend, four volunteers were busy answering shoppers’ questions and showing off the seven cats, five dogs and two puppies they had brought to the PetSmart in Champaign.

Two of the dogs, both beagles, went to a rescue group and the two puppies found homes, as well as two cats.

The volunteers are at the Champaign PetSmart from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. each Saturday, and have been doing the outreach since last fall.

Volunteer Abby Schraeder of Mahomet said on some weekends, no pets are adopted; on others, as many as five find homes.

“The best thing is getting noticed and getting the dogs socialized,” she said. “You can see how they react to men and other dogs.”

Schraeder is a certified veterinary technician in the emergency room at the University of Illinois animal clinic. She got involved in the county shelter after adopting a Chihuahua-miniature pinscher mix that had been brought to the U of I to be spayed.

She also goes to the shelter on the Catlin-Tilton Road to help the dogs with obedience training and socialization every week.

Kimberly Warner-Blodgett of Danville has seven cats of her own, and is fostering another, but she still finds time to volunteer at the shelter.

“It’s the hardest and the best thing I’ve ever done in my life,” she said.

It’s difficult to see the animals that become ill or don’t find homes. But the happy endings are worthwhile, she said.

People tell her they don’t volunteer at the shelter because they’d want to adopt all of the animals.

But Warner-Blodgett has an answer for that: Working around the animals has a lot of benefits for her and the pets, without the disadvantages.

“I can go to the shelter and get some kitty therapy when I have a fight with my husband,” she said with a smile.

Schraeder agreed, saying, “Getting a dog adopted to a good home is an incredible feeling.”

She calls herself a matchmaker for dogs, as it’s important to find the right fit with a potential owner.

Other volunteers last weekend at PetSmart were Donna Walraven of Mahomet and Dustin Zook of Catlin. Boy Scouts from Vermilion County sometimes help out, as well.

The county shelter has a motto: It takes volunteers to save a life.

That’s so true. The homeless dogs and cats are lucky to have people who are willing to give up their Saturdays so those animals have a better life.

FOR PET LOVERS

Mark your calendars for the fourth annual Petstravaganza, which will be 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. April 25 in the Stock Pavilion, 1402 W. Pennsylvania Ave., at the University of Illinois.

The event will feature a number of interactive exhibits, such as how to interact safely with pets and wildlife, the importance of pet identification, and the benefits of pet adoption.

A new feature this year is an admission charge — an item for a homeless pet, which as food or kitty litter. See the wish list on the Web site http://www.cuhumane.org.

For more information, go to http://pets.ansci.uiuc.edu/outreach/petstravaganza.com.

If you would like to have your pet featured in this column, contact Mary Wicoff at 477-5161, send an e-mail to mwicoff@dancomnews.com or write to Commercial-News, 17 W. North, Danville, IL 61832.