Animal shelter clears kennels after dog adoption discount

By Harry Loomis

After an influx of dogs last week completely filled the kennels at the animal shelter, its volunteer group stepped in to help, leading to more than 30 pups finding new homes.

Due to the freezing temperatures and high costs of taking care of pets, 24 new dogs entered the St. Joseph Animal Shelter. This led to a major problem — they were out of kennel space on Tuesday.

“If we run out of space completely, we do have to make choices just because we are a municipal animal shelter,” said Aubrey Silvey, senior animal care specialist. “We have to have room for those stray dogs that are, like, out on the streets, so we’re not having to make those hard decisions.”

After the rush of dogs came in, the shelter reached out to the Friends of the Animal Shelter volunteer group to see what they could do. The charity receives many donations throughout the year, some from monthly and legacy donors, while others come from annual events through the fundraising committee, such as an auction and a holiday shopping event.

With these funds available, the charity board had to make a decision on how to help. The group landed on a major discount promotion: $5 adoptions on Friday and Saturday.

Adoption fees for dogs typically range from $130 to $180, depending on age, gender and condition.

“In my four years here, we have never had a sale that low on dogs,” said Kim Gorman, Friends of the Animal Shelter board member. “(Donations) all go toward medical costs or adoption costs.”

The shelter had all 60 kennels in use ahead of the sale. After Saturday, 33 dogs had been adopted.

“When we ended the special, we actually only had five dogs that were available for adoption,” Silvey said. “The rest of our dogs are stray with ID, so they have potential owners, so they just weren’t able to be adopted. Otherwise we might have made more space. Even then, to have half of the kennel cleared out is incredible for us.”

The overpopulation of animal shelters isn’t unique to St. Joseph, as shelters all across the country are facing similar issues.

The shelter has 56 spots for cats, although they have more options for what to do with them.

“We have some satellite locations,” Silvey said. “We house cats at Petco and PetSmart for adoption, so we’ve got a little more options for cats right now. During the summer, we really need fosters.”

The shelter is a municipal shelter, so while it can’t always offer heavy discounts, it does offer monthly half-off sales. Cat adoption fees are half-off on the first Wednesday of the month; dog adoptions are half-off on the third Wednesday of the month.

Friends of the Animal Shelter is also always taking donations and looking for foster owners.

“Right now, we’re looking to increase our foster program for newborn kittens,” Gorman said. “Fosters are incredibly important for the shelter. They help relieve some kennel space.”