Going Gaga for Poochella! Homeless Pups to Headline PETA’s Multi-Shelter Adoption Festival

For Immediate Release:
April 28, 2025

Contact:
Nicole Perreira 202-483-7382

Norfolk, Va. –

These pups are having a ball!The party may be over at Coachella, but the festivities are just getting started at Poochella, where dozens of adoptable dogs from 10 area animal shelters will gather for a paws-itively spectacular event at PETA’s riverfront dog park on Saturday. Guests can bond with potential new best friends, receive dog care and training tips from local shelter experts, and enjoy mouthwatering vegan burgers from Beyond Meat.

*A 2025 Poochella adoptee,* *Cameron. Credit: PETA*

“Poochella is the perfect place for wonderful pups and loving families to have fun and connect with each other,” says PETA Senior Vice President Daphna Nachminovitch. “Shelters are bursting at the seams with adoptable animals, and PETA is inviting the public to open their hearts and homes to a canine companion from a local animal shelter.”

Where: PETA’s Bea Arthur Dog Park, 501 Front St., Norfolk

When: Saturday, May 3, 11 a.m.–2 p.m.

Participating shelters include Bay Beagle Rescue, Chesapeake Animal Services Unit, Chesapeake Humane Society, Norfolk Animal Care Center, Norfolk SPCA, PETA, Portsmouth Humane Society, Reba’s Rescue, Virginia Beach Animal Control, and Virginia Beach SPCA.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kitsfor people who need a lesson in kindness.

For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow PETA on X, Facebook, or Instagram.