Matt Damon, Jamie Lee Curtis and more celebrities will be featured in this year’s Clear The Shelters television special.
The star-studded special celebrating Clear The Shelters’ 12th annual pet adoption and donation campaign will spotlight several heartwarming pet stories, NBCUniversal Local announced Tuesday.
The half-hour show premieres Friday, Aug. 7 on NBC Los Angeles at 7:30 p.m. PT. Following its premiere, the special will be shown on NBC Los Angeles’ FAST channel and on COZI TV (check listings for dates and times).
The 2025 Clear The Shelters special was hosted by actor Joe Manganiello and his dog Bubbles, but this year’s edition will include appearances from a long list of big names. In addition to Damon and Curtis, fellow actors Kristin Chenoweth and Wendi McLendon-Covey will be featured, along with “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” star Sutton Stracke and ex-MLB three-time All-Star pitcher Adam Wainwright.
The stars will help shine a light on a number of animal stories, including:
- A former shelter dog named Chief who became the bat dog for The Firefighters of the Banana Baseball League.
- The designer of travel-ready backpacks that hold dogs takes a rescue puppy for a trip around New York City on his back.
- A Long Island City, New York, photographer who specializes in taking intentionally bad portraits of adopted pets with their new families.
- Pets’ journeys from being rescued to getting adopted at Pasadena Humane in California.
- A personality match program for cats and prospective pet parents at the ASPCA’s kitten nursery in New York City.
- Pet training tips from “The Dog Savant,” Brett Endes.
The new-look special is being produced by NBCU Skycastle for the first time.
Clear The Shelters, NBCUniversal Local’s annual pet adoption and donation initiative, is currently in the midst of its 12th campaign. The donation initiative kicked off July 15 and runs through Sept. 15, while the adoption push will take place from Aug. 1 to 31.
Clear The Shelters sees NBC and Telemundo’s owned stations and affiliates team up with shelters and rescues in their communities to promote animal adoptions and help raise money for those participating locations. The campaign has driven more than 1.3 million adoptions and raised more than $5.6 million in donations for participating shelters and rescues since launching in 2015.
Longtime Clear The Shelters partner Hill’s Pet Nutrition is serving as the campaign’s presenting sponsor for the first time this year. The 2026 campaign features several other returning partners, including Greater Good Charities, WeRescue and The Black Dog.
For more information on Clear The Shelters, including participating shelters, along with details on local events and television programming, visit ClearTheShelters.com and the Spanish-language site DesocuparlosAlbergues.com. Follow Clear The Shelters on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.
