St. Joseph Animal Shelter gearing up for this weekend’s adoption event
By Leah Rainwater
As community members make their way to Downtown St. Joseph this weekend for various festivities, cats and dogs from the shelter will be joining in on the fun, too — only they’re hoping to find new owners among the crowd.
Each year, the St. Joseph Animal Shelter hosts an off-site adoption event to help clear the shelter and to show off some furry friends who are looking for a home. This year, the off-site event will be on Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024, at Civic Center Park from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m.
“Hopefully we clear the shelter,” said Aubrey Silvey, senior animal care specialist for dogs at the shelter. “We’re gonna get as many pets as we can out there and hopefully we can clear the shelter and get ready and make some space for the next waves of pets that needs us.”
This event will be held during the StroudStock Festival, which honors 9/11 first responders.
“It’s gonna be a bit of a stressful environment that we’re expecting to put our pets into, just with like, all of the bounce houses and the petting zoo,” Silvey said. “We will try to set up and block off our area and just be mindful of that, that it’s noisy and stuff, especially for the adult dogs. We’ve got some really social dogs right now that we think will hopefully handle it pretty well.”
During the event, the shelter will be closed to the public. Silvey said it’s important for the shelter to get involved with the community.
“We’re so full down here at the shelter, and we’ve just seen an explosion of puppies and kittens, especially over this past year,” said Silvey. “It’s super important for us to be able to get out there and do stuff like this. Not only clear the shelter, but show the community what we have going on down here, give ‘em a chance to see it first hand and get more involved as well.”
Silvey also said she’s hoping to have high adoption numbers for this year’s event.
“The last couple of years that we’ve done this event, we’ve done pretty close to 100 adoptions,” said Silvey. “We’re hoping that we can get back in the ballpark and do around 100 adoptions, if possible.”
Silvey said kittens under 6 months old will be available for adoption for $10, adult cats will be fee waived and all dogs and puppies will be $25.
Pets are also spayed and neutered, have age-appropriate vaccinations, a microchip and a city license for those who live in city limits.
