It’s finally happening: our 20th annual–and first-ever virtual–auction for the animals is LIVE! That’s right: over 400 auction items and 100 buy-now items are all waiting for YOU! Plus, the pet Howl-o-Ween costume contest voting is now open, and tickets for the raffle prize (a $1,000 Amazon gift card) are still available! Click HERE to register (if needed, and it’s still free), bid, and buy!
It’s official: the virtual 2020 Evening of Pawsibilities starts THIS WEEK! To make sure you don’t miss a beat, we created an event program as a PDF that you can see, download, or print. It’s got all the essential info and reminders for the auction, raffle, Wine Pull, costume contest, and more! Click HERE to check it out!
In late 2017, Second Chance volunteer Megan Wencel founded our Hearts to Home Animal Transport, which prioritizes rescuing dogs from local overcrowded shelters to bring them to our partner rescues in northern states like Maryland and New Jersey. Transport is an important and effective strategy to reduce overpopulation in our area while providing adoptable animals to areas where the supply does not meet the demand. Because of Hearts to Home, dogs like Tesha get their second chances to find love!
In early September, Megan learned of a little puppy named Tesha who had been attacked by another dog in her own home. As a result, Tesha had a broken jaw, which was horrific on its own, but far worse was that her owners, the people who were supposed to love and protect her, left her without treatment for nearly a month before Animal Control stepped in. Tesha sat in the country shelter awaiting rescue, but her injuries were likely to require surgery totaling approximately $3,000. Due to this steep price tag, local rescues could not afford to commit to taking on Tesha‘s case. Tesha was otherwise healthy with tons of life left in her as a young baby, but she was about to lose it all…
…until Megan stepped in. She contacted one of our rescue partners, New Jersey South Hills Pet Rescue, to see if they would take Tesha into their care. Without hesitation, they committed to this puppy; after a brief stint in the care of one of our foster parents, Krystal, Tesha was in the car, beginning the journey to her new life.
Now that Tesha’s in New Jersey, she’s had surgery to re-break and reset her jaw. After wearing a soft muzzle for a couple of weeks, she is now out of it and doing well, though she is on crate rest, a tough ask for any young pup. Though her ordeal is not yet over, her new life–even one spent recuperating from an injury–is vastly superior to her old life: while she once lived under a porch, she now gets some R&R at the beach!
Before long, Tesha will reach the end of her journey: adoption! Her forever family is out there somewhere, and we know they will be just as grateful to Megan and to NJSH Pet Rescue as we are.
Triangle Food Tours, the first food tour in the Triangle, has officially announced its Raleigh Frights & Bites Haunted Brunch Tour just in time for the Howl-o-ween season!
Located in downtown Raleigh are a number of haunted landmarks, spooky history and of course, delicious food. Bone-appetite! 🦴 Spend your afternoon enjoying food and drinks from three of Raleigh’s best local downtown establishments. The dark side of Raleigh has never tasted so good!
From the city’s oldest cemetery and mortuary, and it’s inhabitants, you’ll hear stories of public executions, murder, a plague of yellow fever, and one of the most haunted Capitol buildings in the South.
Want to invite more of your friends to the paw-ty? Well-behaved, leashed dogs (who have their rabies vaccinations) are allowed to join in on Sunday, Oct. 18th and Sunday, Oct. 25th! Please bring proof of up-to-date rabies vaccination. All humans and dogs are welcome to wear costumes!
Quick Details:
Saturday Tour Time: 11:00am-1:15pm
Sunday Tour Time: 12:45pm-3:00pm
Duration: 2.25 hours
Ages: 8+
10% of all Ticket Sales from the dog-friendly tours (Sunday, Oct. 18th and Sunday, Oct. 25th) will go to support us! 
Also look out for a drop-down optional menu to donate to Second Chance Pet Adoptions! The donations are tacked onto the final price of purchase.
Transform your cat or dog into whatever they desire to be for Halloween this year! The costume oppawtunities are endless (silly? spooky? sweet?), but if you need some inspurration, our recently-rescued supaw heroes are here to help! To enter our costume contest and WIN one of two $50 Target gift cards, check out our submission guidelines and instructions HERE and enter any time before the voting closes at noon Eastern on Nov. 1, 2020!
The costume contest voting begins at 5:00 p.m. Eastern on October 29, 2020, so submit your photo before noon that day and you’ll be in it to win it from the start!
In October of 2019, Tim Chlopowicz was on his way to the NC State Fair (held at the fairgrounds just a mile or some from Second Chance) when he happened to pass by our adoption center, adorned with our logo. After seeing our sign, he took it as his sign to get involved with rescue and with Second Chance in particular. Tim had long had ideas about helping homeless animals but had yet to truly get “plugged in,” especially given the demands of work and family life. Without hesitation, Tim immediately became a “boots on the ground” volunteer, pulling dogs from local county shelters and transporting them to the Virginia border, where other animal rescues received them to complete their journeys north to their forever families.
The first day that he walked into our adoption center, Tim immediately offered to raise $5 million for our cats and dogs by getting 1 million people to give $5 each. When asked if he knows 1,000,000 people, Tim says, a bit (but not totally) tongue in cheek, “no, but I know half a million.” With the support of almost 200 friends and relatives to date, Tim’s fundraising efforts (which began in earnest in July) have now generated almost $8,000!
As a grandfather to two young boys, Tim promised his community that, for each $1,000 he raised, his grandsons could clobber him with a pie, no video, to be shared with his supporters. “Pies for Paws” was born, and perhaps a little too eager to mess up this guy’s mug, his friends and family hit the first milestone on DAY ONE of his fundraiser! For his first $4,000, his grandkids sent four delicious pies flying into Tim’s face; pie #5 was thrown by the owner of the Once in a Blue Moon Bakery and Cafe, Lily, while pie #6 was chucked by CBS 17’s Chief Meteorologist (and dad to Second Chance graduate, Tigger) Wes Hohenstein. Pie #8 was flung by the one and only Carolina Hurricanes mascot, Stormy.
This past Monday, for pie #8, Tim got clobbered by the most famous Durham Bull of all, Wool E. Bull! Congratulations on, and thank you for, $8,000, Tim, and Wool E., thanks for pawticipating in Tim’s fundraiser and helping stray and abandoned cats and dogs get their second chances to find love!
So far, Tim has received eight pies in the face. If you want to catch up on all the videos, visit his fundraising page. If you’d like to keep up with his endeavors on Facebook, you can follow his fundraising page here.
Want to play a part in Pies for Paws? Make your contribution now!
While we remain closed to the public, we are still intaking and adopting out dogs and cats each and every day. With over 150 animals in our program, we are excited to announce that we sent 55 cats and dogs to their forever homes during the month of September!
Pi-Paw (above) is beaming because he found his forever home this month!
Make sure to take a look at all of the smiling faces in the dog adoption photos below! We hope October not only brings candy but lots of forever families for the many other dogs in our program! Make sure to take a look at our available dogs on our website!
Don’t worry, we did not furr-get about our feline friends! In September of 2020, we were able to find forever homes for 20 cats and kittens in our program. (Trout and Nixie, not written on the board yet, were adopted out on September 30th!) Out of the 20 cats below, there are 12 that were able to go to a home with their bonded buddy or sibling!
Thank YOU for making this paw-sible. We can’t wait to see what we accomplish in October! 
Our animal transport program, Hearts to Home, was founded in November of 2017. This program prioritizes rescuing animals from overcrowded shelters in the south to bring them to much emptier shelters in the northern states. This is an important and effective strategy to reduce overpopulation in our area while providing adoptable animals to areas where the supply does not meet the demand.
In late August, we heard word of Moxie’s story.
Moxie, a two-year-old rottweiler mix, was asleep in her home one day when her owner’s child fell on her. Despite no one seeing what happened, the family assumed Moxie bit her due to a scratch on the child’s eyelid. Her family abandoned her at a veterinarian’s office in boarding for over a month before the vet had to surrender her to animal control.
At this point, Moxie was very stressed and anxious due to spending day after day in a kennel with little to no interaction. No one was interested in her due to her labeled “bite” history, and the more days she spent in the shelter, the worse her stress became. She began to struggle with diarrhea amongst the general anxiety. It came to the point where the shelter was going to be forced to make a difficult decision due to Moxie’s suffering.
Then, a miracle happened! Our friends at Baywater Animal Rescue MD heard Moxie’s story and, without hesitation, committed to taking her. They had the perfect adopter that was ready to give Moxie the forever home she deserved.
After hearing this wonderful news, we quickly rescued her and set up a temporary foster home to stay in until it was time for her transport. One of our beloved fosters and volunteers, HollyAnn, took Moxie into her home for a couple of weeks and immediately fell in love with her.
For me, as her Foster Momma, Moxie has been a case of “Who rescued who?” for sure! I’ve been pretty lost since my husband passed mid-August, and from the moment I picked her up from Granville County Animal Control on August 27th, Moxie has been helping me heal and prepare for my next chapter in life. I will miss her terribly, but you, her new forever family, are getting a GREAT companion!
It was a tearful goodbye for HollyAnn on transport day, but she knew Moxie was going to a loving family.
Shortly after her arrival in Maryland, Moxie met her forever family. She now lives on a big farm with all the toys and attention her heart desires! She also has a cat sibling to keep her company. We are thankful to have partnered with Baywater Animal Rescue to save Moxie, and give her the second chance she so deserved!
Thank you to Megan, our Hearts to Home Program Director, Moxie’s short-term foster mom, Hollyann, our transport volunteers, and to Baywater Animal Rescue for making this all pawsible!
In March of 2019, Jaeger (pictured above on the day we rescued him) was found by a good Samaritan living with a pack of dogs under a seemingly abandoned trailer. There was no food or water to be found. The passerby assumed the dogs to be homeless but left a note on the door of the trailer nonetheless. The owner of the trailer soon called and asked how much she would pay to take the dogs away. The passerby, short on funds but desperate to help, offered $40 for all 4 dogs. Ten measly dollars were deemed by Jaeger’s guardian–the one meant to keep and protect him always–to be a fair trade for his life.
When brought into the veterinarian’s office where the good Samaritan worked, Jaeger was found to have heartworms, loose teeth, a belly full of parasites, arthritis, Lyme disease and a body full of BBs from having been shot. When asked to help, Second Chance Pet Adoptions committed to treating and restoring Jaeger to his full mental and physical health. He has since been treated, healed–and adopted by Nicole and Greg!
For the past eleven months, Jaeger, now Max, has been living his best life with his humans. His forever mom says, “We are so lucky that Max was rescued and his health was restored thanks to Second Chance Pet Adoptions. We were so lucky to find Max, who has been a big support during quarantine. He is my favorite coworker: he accompanies me to my job and works hard at napping under my desk. He also walked me down the aisle and laid by my side when we decided to elope on our apartment rooftop during the COVID-19 pandemic. We could not ask for a more cuddly, caring, sweet guy to share our home and lives with. Thank you for bringing him into our lives; he is just the best!”
