Saddleblanket pet adoption events end with store’s closure

to more than the business’s owners, employees and customers. it’s also enjoyed a unique partnership with the el paso humane society. last saturday, that six year run came to an end. abc-7’s iris lopez is live to tell us what happens next, iris? that partnership is credited with saving the lives of nearly 2-thousand dogs and cats the past six years. the challenge now is convincing other businesses to step in and carry on that work. nat “it’s bittersweet tha we’re losing the site, but it was an awfully wonderful opportunity.” the organizations got together back in 2008. betty hoover : “bonnie had the idea to hav what is called a dog lovers fair, and that was kinda the way that the partnership began.” bonnie henson : “and that turned out to be huge event, and we continued that every fall, and then it came to mind this is benefiting both of us so well why don’t we do it more often?” and so it was. every saturday the saddleblanket company would host humane society pet adoptions “they put a lot of effort int it which is what made the partnership so successful because they advertised it, they were consistent with it. it was every saturday almost come rain or shine no matter what we were gonna be there with animals.” e paso saddleblanket later designated a special area behind the store for the adoptions. stand up: “well th crates are already being put up, but the el paso saddle blanket created a fun environment, almost like a fair for the pets and those wanting to adopt them.” “when we firs started with el paso saddle blanket we had a small area in the back of the store, and bonnie saw how lucrative that could be so she built some pens outside. she built some actual dog rooms outside. and next came artificial turf for the dogs to run, and then canopies and eventually a whole adoption center on the site of el paso saddle blanket.” although the 6 year partnership is coming to an end as the saddleblanket company closes its doors, owner bonnie henson hopes other businesses will step up and continue the tradition. “because it’s a win win situation. the humane society gets more dogs adopted and the business gets more customers. so we would like to see this continue somewhere here in the community.” bonnie henson told me that since the partnership began, 1 thousand 8 hundred and ninety four pets were adopted there. here’s good morning el paso’s stephanie valle with a preview of her special report on abc-seven at ten.