DATE: Tuesday, November 18, 1997            TAG: 9711180238

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B7   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY BILL REED, STAFF WRITER

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:   38 lines

PET ADOPTIONS REACH 72 IN 4 DAYS AT BEACH SPCA SHELTER

Animal adoptions have proceeded at a brisk pace at the Virginia Beach SPCA shelter over the past four days, but so has the number of dropoffs and creatures put to death.

That was the good and bad news provided Monday by shelter Executive Director Sharon Adams, who last week announced that the facility was being inundated with unwanted pets.

Among the newest arrivals was a big orange male cat named El Gato. The cat was found among items shipped from Rota, Spain, by a local Navy family.

The crate had been in transit for three weeks, said Adams, but the feline survived and is well enough to be put up for adoption.

``He's a little leery of people and badly in need of a bath,'' said Adams, ``but I don't think we'll give him one just yet.''

Since Thursday, the Virginia Beach shelter has placed 72 animals up for adoption, but has received 69 animals from people across Hampton Roads.

Most of the castoff pets came from Virginia Beach, but the shelter is also getting pets from Norfolk, Chesapeake and Portsmouth.

In the past four days, the SPCA shelter has had to put to death 61 animals that had been dumped on its doorstep, said Adams. That includes 18 hamsters and gerbils.

On the brighter side, the Virginia Beach shelter has been awash with pet food and litter and some cash donations from people who wanted to help, Adams said.

``They have been just so wonderful,'' she added.

Two weekends ago the picture was not so rosy. The shelter found itself overburdened with 144 unwanted animals, ranging from puppies to rabbits and one parakeet. They were brought in from as far away as Suffolk and Williamsburg.

Adams explained that most of the newcomers were pets, not strays, and that most owners dumped them off largely because they had become an inconvenience.

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