Saved from Charlotte’s streets, she has the longest wait in the shelter
“I’ve been waiting for what feels like forever for my forever home.”
If Persephone could talk, maybe this is what she would say.
“I will always smile at you. Partly because my lip is cleft behind my front teeth on the left side. But mostly because — as my humans put it — it’s just the type of dog I am: happy and sweet.”
Persephone, an eight-year-old black brindle pit bull terrier, has been looking for her forever home for 248 days, according to Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department’s Animal Care and Control shelter. The longest ever wait for a dog to be adopted from the shelter, the agency says, is just over a year.
She is one of approximately 160 dogs in the shelter’s care, but she has been at the shelter the longest. She arrived on Oct. 3, 2021 after being found wandering the streets of Charlotte. Caretakers at the animal control shelter aren’t sure whether an injury led to her mouth being the way that it is.
Shelter staff have been trying for weeks to find Persephone a home. On social media they post a photo of her a day under the #adoptpersephone, and the motto “a picture a day finds Persephone a home to stay.”
Her brain is “incredible,” according to her information page. And it says she is curious, smart and easily trainable.
Julia Conner, a humane education specialist with Animal Care and Control said she is an “absolute sweetheart.”
When she sleeps, she sucks her paw like a child sucking their thumb.
Cuddling is one of her favorite activities and she will want to be as close to you as possible all the time, her page says.
Conner says she is a bit of a homebody and her perfect family or owner will allow her to stay at home.
Shelter staff say she needs to be the only pet in the home, and as Conner puts it she is the “queen of her castle” and doesn’t like sharing. Shelter staff think she may be okay with children, but they don’t know for sure.
She is named after the Greek queen of the underworld, and goddess of spring.
Because Persephone is considered a “long-term guest” at the shelter, there is no fee to adopt but a nominal donation is accepted.
Those interested in adopting her should contact her foster parent at: sarahsallybrooks@gmail.com.
Conner says if Persephone is not for someone seeking to adopt, they should look at other adoptable pets at the shelter because plenty need homes. Roscoe is also up for adoption as a long-term resident and has been at the shelter since February.
As of Friday, the shelter’s capacity was nearly full. According to its website, it has fewer than 10 kennels open for incoming dogs. Capacity issues have fluctuated for several months, as the Observer reported in April the agency pleaded with the public to adopt pets, dogs specifically.
This story was originally published June 10, 2022 at 10:42 AM.
