Thousands of dollars were raised and a few animals came closer to finding new homes Tuesday during the Bowling Green-Warren County Humane Society’s seventh annual Adopt-a-thon.

The humane society and Insight Communications collaborated on the telethon, which raised a total of $17,400 toward operating the Hildreth Animal Shelter, which is funded solely by grants and donations.

More than 80 dogs and cats were presented for adoption during the three-hour Adopt-a-thon, broadcast from Insight’s Double Springs Road office.

In addition to the money raised, the humane society received an application to adopt two cats, Sophie and Max, who were taken into the animal shelter Feb. 29 and have lived there longer than any other animals currently housed there.

“If the applications pan out, that would make my day,” said humane society director Lorri Hare.

Callers into the Adopt-a-thon could adopt one of the animals shown, pledge a contribution to the shelter or pledge money to sponsor an animal to help pay for its health needs or to go toward its adoption fee.

Organizers were worried that Tuesday’s Adopt-a-thon would raise less money than last year, but a push in the final 15 minutes resulted in several big-dollar contributions to push the total contributions for this year above the $14,700 raised in 2007.

“With the economy being what it is, I worried there might not be as much money raised,” said Jean Secrest, sales manager for Insight and a volunteer at the animal shelter. “A lot of times, you will see a lot of the same donors step up to the plate each year, but (the telethon had) a lot of first-time donors and several donations of $500 or $1,000.”

Volunteers also made pleas throughout the broadcast to pet owners to spay or neuter their animals and to contribute bleach, cat litter and other cleaning supplies to the shelter.

Just minutes after the Adopt-a-thon ended, Hare said there had been four applications for adoption submitted by phone.

Hare, however, said she anticipated more people would visit the shelter for the rest of this week and next week to ask about some of the animals available.

“We hope to have more animals adopted out in the next couple of weeks,” Hare said. “We definitely couldn’t do this without the help of the community.”

Humane society employees and volunteers struggle against a virtual tidal wave of new intakes of dogs and cats – Secrest said on a given day, the shelter will take in 40 to 60 cats and adopt out four.

In the event of overcrowding, the animal shelter helps transport some dogs and cats to animal rescue organizations in northeastern states that have stricter spay/neuter laws.

Nancy Norman of Bowling Green is a retired teacher who volunteers daily at the shelter, walking dogs and feeding cats.

She made a plea during the Adopt-a-thon for a cat to be adopted.

“My son took me out (to the shelter) and I saw how hard their work was,” Norman said. “I’ve become very attached to some of these animals.”