Puerto Vallarta, Mexico - The first televised Adopta campaign, sponsored by TVC Networks, the City of Puerto Vallarta, the Tourism Board, the Westin Regina Resort, and local animal protection associations, was held at the Municipal Sports Stadium on Saturday, September 7th to raise awareness about the importance of being responsible pet owners.

Proving that Puerto Vallarta is truly "pet friendly," at least 20 dogs and cats found forever homes and PEACEAnimals took this opportunity to hold one of their free spay and neuter clinics, and performed 98 free sterilizations on site.

The event proved to be not only a huge success, but also a wonderful opportunity for new "parents" to interact with other pet lovers, as they received care information and exchanged success stories about giving these dogs and cats a new lease on life - a home.

During the event, Education Council Member Guadalupe Anaya Hernández presented the Centro de Acopio with several bags of pet food, which were provided by the councilors and officials at City Hall. Speaking on behalf of Mayor Ramon Guerrero Martinez, she stressed the importance of raising awareness in the community, especially in children, to help reduce the number of animals in the streets and make people more responsible pet owners.

"It is important that we make children aware of how to properly care for animals and not mistreat them. We cannot continue to have animals on the street and these programs help us towards this goal," she said, and invited Vallartenses to adopt a pet and be friendly to our natural environment.

TVC Networks' Marketing Manager, Andrea Varona, said that their television network is pleased that Vallarta has adopted and supported the work being done by El Centro de Acopio, (the Puerto Vallarta Animal Shelter,) in conjunction with non-profit associations such as PV Animal, Angelicat, Purr Project, Paraiso Felino, SPCA de PV and PEACEAnimals. "Westin Resorts has also been a great supporter in spreading the word that Vallarta is pet friendly, and I believe that such dissemination and awareness will help us all be better citizens," she added.

An Excellent Event Promoting the Love of Animals

For Mrs. Maria Eugenia Amador, who attended with her family and took home 'Camila,' events like this are "very good, because they also promote the love of animals." Plus they allow a dog in a homeless situation to have a new lease on life as part of a household. "We came to adopt a dog, because they are living beings like humans and need care," she said.

Even though this was the first televised adoption event, there have been 7 events of this type since February of this year, in which 255 companion pets were adopted. This demonstrates that the city of Puerto Vallarta responsibly attends to the animal overpopulation problem in encouraging a culture of respect and protection for pets and eliminating cruelty to animals.

As part of this campaign, TVC will broadcast the event footage on different channels of their network such as TVC Deportes, Platino, Panico, Mexican Cinema and TVC, thus the name of Puerto Vallarta will reach millions of viewers across the country.