He may be named after that famous secret agent, but Agent 007’s stellar spy skills have not been able to help him escape the shelter after spending five months of being in our care. Hopefully, a unique fundraiser that allowed young readers across Berks County to support his chances of being adopted will help him complete his mission of finding a new home soon.

Coming into our care in stealth mode, Agent 007 was initially very hesitant around new people and the environment of the shelter. However, with a little bit of patience and lots of love, our staff helped him bloom into the most affectionate and outgoing cat in just a few short weeks. Unfortunately, thanks to a national shelter overpopulation crisis that has devastated the ARL, Agent 007 and many cats just like him have been waiting weeks, if not months, to escape the stressful shelter life for a cozy home.

It may come as a surprise, but the key to finding his new home has involved a one-of-a-kind fundraiser based around something that wouldn’t usually be related to the shelter: children reading books. This summer, a program called Pages for Pets launched across our county’s public libraries, where children raced to read to help unlock the sponsorship of a shelter pet at ARL. With a goal of 500,000 minutes read collectively across the county, our young readers shattered their goal at the end of July with 680,000 minutes read, all to sponsor Agent 007’s adoption fee!

Now, all that’s left to do is help Agent 007 find a new home. In the meantime, our staff has been showering him with so much love and enrichment during his time here, and he is continuing to thrive despite the stressors of shelter life. If you want to learn more about Agent 007 to see if he could be a good fit for your home, you can check out his adoption profile here!

Want to meet more of the lives we’ve saved? Check out the blog to hear more heartwarming shelter pet stories!