Petfinder.com excels at finding homes

You can't see her face clearly, but it's easy to tell from the photo of her frolicking in a plastic swimming pool that Dori is a fun-loving gal.

"She loves long walks and lots of play time," states the description on the black retriever mix's Petfinder adoption page.

As of Tuesday afternoon, Dori was one of 10 animals -- three dogs and seven cats -- from the Kane County animal control facility featured on Petfinder.com, a nationwide online pet adoption site.

Since the county joined the site about a month ago, adoptions have increased dramatically, facility director Pat Sikorski told the county board's public health committee Tuesday.

"It's almost wiped us out in dogs," Sikorski said.

Some 2,000 hits a week are reported for the descriptions of animals from the Geneva facility that are featured on Petfinder.com, Sikorski said. There is no cost to be featured on the site.

The county began offering animals for adoption after opening its first-ever $2 million animal shelter in February. Adoption fees have brought in $4,890 in revenue.

Adoption fees are $200 for dogs and $100 for cats and include spaying or neutering and rabies shots.

Of the 257 animals admitted to the facility since it opened, 106 were reclaimed by their owners, 41 were adopted, 92 were euthanized -- either because they couldn't find homes or because their owners chose to do so -- and the remaining were voluntarily given up by their owners.

Visitors who log on to www.Petfinder.com can find animals from the Kane County facility by entering "Geneva, IL" in the location box on the left rail of the site's main page.