The 2025 Clear the Shelters campaign in Southwest Virginia, led by WSLS 10, concluded as its most successful year, with nearly 1,000 pets adopted across 18 partner shelters. The campaign featured daily adoptable pets, focusing on those in urgent need or longest at shelters, resulting in numerous success stories including long-term shelter dogs and adoptable horses. WSLS highlighted 57 pets on air and online, with many finding homes, while community support through adoption, donations, and sharing pet stories played a crucial role.

Nationally, Shelter Animals Count data for 2024 shows about 5.8 million companion animals entered U.S. shelters, with a slight decline in intakes and a modest increase in total adoptions compared to 2023. However, dog adoptions have continued to decline, dropping 1% from 2023 and 13% since 2019, while cat adoptions grew by 2% over 2023 and surpassed 2019 levels. This trend underscores ongoing challenges in dog adoptions despite gains in cat adoptions, highlighting the importance of campaigns like Clear the Shelters to support shelter animals.