PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Sunday marks arguably the most important sporting event in America: the 17th annual Puppy Bowl.
Teams Ruff and Fluff take the tiny field to play, while refs on the Animal Planet program educate the public about pet adoptions. Seventy puppies from 22 shelters and rescues across the Northeast will participate, including one from Delaware County.
Hope, who is part foxhound, chow chow and golden retriever, is representing Providence Animal Center in Media.
“The message is the most important takeaway, which is we want people to think of adoption first,” said shelter spokesperson Justina Calgiano.
The producers look for puppies that are born during a certain time, so on the day of filming, they are about 3 or 4 months old.
Puppy Bowl XVII was filmed in October, and since then, Hope has been adopted. She has a golden retriever big brother now, too.
“(Hope) represents shelter dogs wonderfully because she looks like a little bit of everything. She is a little bit of everything,” Calgiano said. “She was cute enough to catch the eye of Puppy Bowl producers.”
Three other pooches in Puppy Bowl XVII are from MatchDog Rescue in Marlton, New Jersey.
This is Providence’s fourth year participating in the Puppy Bowl, and Calgiano said they’re happy to promote Hope and the many other cats and dogs looking for forever homes.
“It’s very important that we are a part of the message that gets to the root of the problem, which is reducing those very high numbers of euthanasia in shelters across the country,” she added.