RB Darren McFadden, LB Nick Roach and CB Taiwan Jones visited the East Bay SPCA in Oakland to help raise awareness for animal adoption. The three dog owners spent time touring the facility and meeting some of the animals and encouraging others to adopt through Animal Planet's "Road to the Puppy Bowl." Animal Planet, which airs the Puppy Bowl every year during the Super Bowl, donated the money to cover adoption fees during today's event.

President and CEO of the East Bay SPCA, Allison Lindquist, was impressed with how wonderful the three players were with the animals and the potential pet adopters. "What nice guys. They came here and people were so excited to meet them and the kids getting autographs," said Lundquist. "We really appreciate that they took the time out of their day to come over here and do this."

"East Bay SPCA is a nonprofit organization," explained Lindquist. "We don't get any city, state or federal funding, so we're solely privately funded. We offer adoption services of adoptable dogs and cats and we also have a full-service veterinary clinic that's open to the general public."

The recently remodeled facility impressed the players. "It's great. They have a really clean setup here," said Roach. "I can tell it's very organized - all the technicians and all the staff where they need to be and everything is right here. It's almost like a little campus. They have a couple of buildings where the clinic is at, the adoption space, the space for the ones that just got in. I think it's a really cool place. They offer free services or drastically discounted services to the people in this community specifically, so they're doing some good things here."

Jones was happy to be part of an event that highlighted the important work the staff does to save the animals. "Today was pretty cool. We got to check out the facility and see all the hard work that goes on behind-the-scenes as far as saving these animals lives and giving these pets homes," said Jones. "It was good to come out here today and encourage others to come out and adopt some of these pets."

For McFadden, visiting with the animals and trying to help them find homes was meaningful. "I love animals, dogs and cats and all types of animals, and anytime you can come in and see these dogs and see how energetic and how playful they are, it's a great feeling for us," said McFadden. "And just being able to come out here and experience the different animals here at the shelter, if we can encourage someone to adopt a pet, it's a great feeling."

McFadden hopes that all of the animals they spent time with at the East Bay SPCA find a permanent home. "Animals are very loving and caring. They just want someone to love them back and if I can help find them a great home, I feel like I've done my job for the day," said the veteran running back.

All three of the players wanted to participate in the "Road to the Puppy Bowl" because of how much their pets mean to them. "I wanted to come out here just because we're dog lovers, animal lovers, in our house and we got ours because people didn't want them," said Roach. "I think it's cool to support other people that want to make that choice and then also just to see how happy the animals are just to have a family and be back in a home."

East Bay SPCA was buzzing with activity for the event. Raiders fans came out to not only see the players, but have the opportunity to adopt the wonderful animals at the shelter. "It's wonderful that the Raiders chose to come here and visit with us," said Lindquist. "It really meant a lot to us and we're very grateful for giving us their time."

The players hope that their visit inspired a few fans to bring home the adoptable animals. "All these pets want is love and attention and to see so many people that are willing to give that, it's amazing," said Jones.