On the corner of a busy Los Angeles intersection, dogs barked, tugged at leashes, nuzzled against potential adopters or just lazily languished in the warm sun. The lush greenery at Moorpark in Studio City served as the backdrop for the Great Escape, a pet adoption drive, held on Sunday.
Animals came from various Los Angeles area shelters run by two different organizations: the privately owned nonprofit Los Angeles Animal Rescue and the city-run Los Angeles Animal Services.
“Some people feel like animal shelters are too depressing to go into and avoid them, which prevents a lot of good connections from being made,” Sue Roos, executive director at the LA Animal Rescue, said. “Events such as the Great Escape are important because they also give the animals a chance to relax and get out of the shelter.”
Entertainment companies Goldenvoice and FYF hosted the event. The entities are most known for booking and promoting shows at venues such as the Fonda Theater, their involvement with Coachella and collaborating to produce FYF fest.
FYF Festival is an annual two-day indie-rock festival that sees line-up full both headliners and artists outside of the mainstream. The festival has sold out for the past two years, drawing in about 40,000 fans. Starting independently in 2004 as a one-night concert in Echo Park, it has since teamed up with Goldenvoice and now is held at Exposition Park to accommodate its growth.
Staffs at the adoption drives are completely made up of volunteers, Roos said. Friends of Moorpark Los Angeles Animal Services Mobile Pet Adoption, a supplementary adoption organization, hosts drives at Moorpark Park twice a month, on the first and third Sunday.
A passion for dogs drove PJ Acerno, an employee at Goldenvoice, to start-up the non-profit organization Goldiepup in order to raise money for LA Animal Rescue.
“We’ve only had three events so far,” Acerno said. “But we’re trying to make it a biannual thing.”
The first event that Goldiepup hosted was a two-day benefit show in the parking lot of the Fonda Theater, headlined by Best Coast, the Death Valley Girls and Baby Alpaca in October 2013.
“Events like this are really cool because they help bring in a different demographic than the adoption drives usually attract,” Acerno said. “Not a lot of people follow the LA Animal Rescue or Animal Services, but [Goldenvoice] and FYF have a pretty big and younger audience; by promoting these events we can help raise awareness for adoption.”
Outside of puppy-love, Bennett Kogon, a supervisor at FYF, mentioned that the entertainment companies are given the chance to promote their own events and expand their fan base in addition to finding strays a place to stay.
“Animal homelessness is always an issue, especially in a place like LA,” Kogon said. “FYF cares a lot about dogs – we all own dogs – and feel like it is something important to pay attention to, plus by coming out to these events we can broaden our fan base as well.”