JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Lines were out the door at the City of Jacksonville’s Animal Care and Protective Services (ACPS) on Friday morning.
Dozens of people showed up the night before and camped outside to adopt one of 19 available dachshund puppies.
“Nine o’clock last night, we showed up,” Ashlyn Purvis told Action News Jax. “We were gonna come at like 3 a.m., but we kept watching Facebook, the messages, and we were like, we have to leave now.”
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“We’ve been waiting for the right time and to be able to rescue one, and also it’s sort of close to us, was a good opportunity,” added Deanna Sipsip.
The adoption craze came after Action News Jax told viewers last week that a local Tik-Toker went viral with videos of the dogs.
Shelter director Michael Bricker said a local breeder was overwhelmed with the pups after a death in the family. The community response that followed was overwhelming.
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“I think with the TikToks that Wubbs did, Bethany, I think over four million people saw these dogs,” Bricker explained. “We had people from all over the country reaching out, saying they were gonna drive to get one of them. It was so cool. Loved it.”
Now, those 19 pups are safe and headed to their forever homes.
“My grandma, she was a vet tech for about 30 to 40 years. She believed you adopt, don’t shop. Try to rescue anything you can,” Purvis told Action News Jax. “So I definitely wanted to kind of go by that and try to help out as much as I could possibly.”
ACPS will also be doing a free adoption event every weekend to finish the month of November.
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