They have been rescued from all over Southern California and are survivors of abusive and neglectful owners. While trained and treated for injury and illness, they wait to be adopted into loving and caring homes.

Unlike hundreds of thousands of other animals that are euthanized each year in California, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Los Angeles says that it only kills animals as a last resort, intended to end suffering.

“The ones too sick to heal are put to sleep to stop suffering, but we don’t put adoptable animals to sleep,” Jeff Blodgett, public information officer for SPCALA, said.

While a variety of animals are available for adoption any time of the year, October has been named “adopt -a-shelter-dog month” to bring the issue of pet adoption to more people’s attention. Animal welfare organizations across the country, including SPCALA participate.

“It raises awareness for shelter dogs; many people go to pet stores, but a lot of shelters have good dogs in need of homes,” Blodgett said.

People should find the “right pet” for their household and be able to adequately care for the animal, according to SPCALA. A requirement is that the whole family and any pre-existing pets make sure they can interact well.

“You need to apply for the animal; we just don’t hand them out, animals are a lot of hard work and you need to take care of it at all times,” Blodgett said, adding that dogs are harder to care for than cats.

A screening process is conducted in order to help ensure that the adopted animal will not have to be returned to the shelter later on if the owner is unable to care for it. “It’s important to screen because it’s hard on a pet to be brought to a shelter, then a home, and back to a shelter,” Blodgett said.

Before animals are put up for adoption, they are given medical care, vaccination shots, neutered or spayed, and are checked to make sure they can interact well with humans.

“The animals go through testing from training and veterinarian staff to make sure it’s OK they are adopted out; it’s a temperament issue,” Blodgett said.

Raygena Smith, her mother Brenda and her aunt Tommie know just what it’s like to own a dog adopted from a shelter. The Smiths adopted their dog Cocoa, a terrier, less than a year ago from an SPCALA shelter.

“I like my dog because she is funny and crazy—– every time we stomp our feet she jumps and licks my face,” Raygena said.

The Smiths were among hundreds who attended “Love Your Pet Day” last weekend at SPCALA’s South Bay Pet Adoption Center, (PAC) located at 12910 Yukon Ave. in Hawthorne.

Such occasions happen semi-annually at SPCALA’s four adoption centers around the Southland; they are designed to assist pets and their owners, and to promote adoption.

“We were very pleased with the turnout; many people came. The focus of ‘Love Your Pet Day’ was to teach people how to keep their pet from getting lost,” Blodgett said.

Also showcased at “love your pet day” were the variety of services that SPCALA performs at low cost, including microchipping for dogs and cats and storing important personal information to help track down the animal if it’s found.

Other featured services provided by SPCA include low-cost vaccinations and mock driver’s licenses, which are a way to get a picture identification of a pet which may be used if the pet gets lost.

Vivian Buckner and her son Simeon took their dog Devyn, a chi Tzu Maltese who they adopted three months ago to “Adopt A Pet Day.”

“It’s nice to see the community come out; you would never know how many dogs there are around.They should do it more often,” Vivian said. “I already have one son and now I have two.”

According to SPCALA, more than 3,000 animals were adopted in 2003 from the organization’s four shelters: Hawthorne (South Bay PAC), Santa Monica (Santa Monica Place PAC), Long Beach (P.D. Pitchford Companion PAC), and Canoga Park (Topanga PAC) pet adoption centers. The Long Beach shelter placed 1,300 dogs and 830 cats in homes in 2003.

Santa Monica and Canoga Park have dogs only on weekends.