Fee Waivers Extended
RIVERSIDE (CNS) – In celebration of National Pet Adoption Week, Riverside County officials announced Monday that fee waivers will remain in effect at all county animal shelters, encouraging residents to consider adopting dogs and cats from any of the overcrowded facilities.
Adoption Week runs Monday to Sunday, during which almost all fees at the county’s four shelters will be lifted, leaving only canine licensing costs in place.
The county is additionally partnering with PetSmart Charities to showcase cats ready for adoption, providing the felines for PetSmart events at the venue’s stores in Hemet and Palm Desert. Details can be found at https://petsmartcharities.org/.
“Animal shelters and rescues are doing incredible work to save pets each day, but they can’t do it without the community’s support,” PetSmart spokeswoman Heidi Marston said. “Adopting or fostering a pet can be an incredibly enriching experience and is the best way to support your local organizations. We all have a role we can play in helping pets in need.”
County shelters are generally open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. However, on Wednesday, the Coachella Valley Animal Campus in Thousand Palms, San Jacinto Valley Animal Campus and Western Riverside County Animal Shelter in Jurupa Valley will keep the doors open until 7 p.m. Locations and other information are available at https://rcdas.org.
Last week, Department of Animal Services Director Mary Martin said conditions at the county’s facilities had reached “the breaking point,” asking residents to consider formal adoptions, or possibly fostering impounded pets for set periods to free up space.
The county hosted a same-day adoption and fostering bonanza Saturday, keeping the Jurupa Valley shelter open until midnight. The number of impounds did edge down by more than 100. However, nearly 1,200 pets remain available for adoption countywide, according to figures.
Animals immediately at-risk of euthanasia can be viewed at: https://rcdas.org/list-animals-need-rescue.
Officials are placing a greater emphasis on fostering to move pets more quickly out of cages and into environments where they may thrive, raising the prospects of adoption. Fostering involves taking a dog or cat home for temporary or indefinite periods — without any obligation to formally adopt.
All fostered pets receive free veterinary services via the county, and all adoption fees are currently waived for individuals who decide to make permanent homes for their foster friends.
In May, the Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a resolution declaring the county’s goal of becoming a “no-kill” jurisdiction for pets, seeking to ensure that 90% of animals impounded at county-run facilities leave alive.
The measure, among other things, contains a pledge that the county will “work collaboratively with public and private partners, animal welfare organizations, veterinary professionals, contract cities and residents … to reduce euthanasia.”
The 90% no-kill goal entails greater emphasis on free or low-cost spay and neuter clinics, enhanced “return-to-owner” programs that unite lost pets with their loved ones, adoption campaigns, pet fostering programs and expedited “trap-neuter-return-to-field” programs for “community cats.”
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