Staring at the Macy’s display windows at Christmas provides a thrill: Huge red-ribboned wreaths adorn every window of the seven-story department store, a giant Christmas tree sits atop the main entry facing Union Square and an even larger tree, the “Macy’s Great Tree,” sits in the square itself, prominent and overseeing all the holiday festivities.
And best of all, if you look into the ground-level windows during certain hours, you’ll see kittens and dogs frolicking among the bright goods for sale, as part of the 38th annual SF SPCA Holiday Pet Windows.
If a pet calls to you, you can meet him or her and even adopt them. What better way to celebrate the holidays than to bring home a dog or cat that needs a happy home?
Many don’t know that the SF SPCA (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) has a long history in San Francisco, dating to 1868. It was the fourth humane society in the nation and was established after banker James Sloan Hutchinson saw two men harming a pig on the cobblestoned streets at the intersection of Washington and Sansome. He stepped in to intervene and soon after gathered up a dozen or so citizens to form the society. You can see a plaque that commemorates this event (“near this site occurred the incident which led to formation of the San Francisco Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals” on April 8, 1868…”) installed in 1968 on the wall at Clay Street near Leidesdorff Street, directly opposite the Transamerica Pyramid. (Why not at the actual site, which is just kitty-corner away? Answer: San Francisco).
Today, the SF SPCA finds homes for 4,500 animals each year—and part of that happens each December through the holiday windows. The goal is to find loving homes for as many pets as possible, but of course adopting an animal is a serious responsibility and a decision that should be made with care. A sign in the windows updates the number of adoptions that happen each day. The adoption events happen Wednesday through Sunday from noon to 6pm at Macy’s, now through December 31.
And if you can’t bring an animal home, you can donate to the SF SPCA and go inside Macy’s to try a fragrance discovery experience by sampling new products inside and purchasing holiday gifts.
Sometimes older animals are overlooked, and so right now at the SF SPCA itself, adoptions of animals 5 months or older are free through December 31. All veterans and active military can also adopt for free.