SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The Bissell Pet Foundation is hosting an event called "Empty The Shelters", and you can help empty the shelters locally.
The Sacramento SPCA, Placer SPCA, and about 250 additional animal shelters across the nation are participating in the event, which is happening now until the end of July.
There tends to be an increase in animal intake at animal shelters due to the summer heat and activities such as fireworks during the Fourth of July, summer vacations, relocating, etc. Therefore, these animal shelters have waived adoption fees to make it easier and more affordable to foster and adopt animals.
Before the animal is up for adoption, it's spayed or neutered, vaccinated, and microchipped so the foster parent or potential owner does not have to worry about the additional costs at a vet.
For the Empty the Shelters event, the Sacramento SPCA has a deal where the adoption fee for small animals is $50 and $25 for large animals. Also, Placer SPCA reduced their adoption fees for animals 1 year and older to $25 and $5 for their critters such as guinea pigs and rabbits.
"We're super thankful for the Bissell Pet Foundation, they are sponsoring the difference of the adoption fees so we can reduce adoption fees for our clients and our pet owners here in the community," Dawn Foster, director of marketing and communications at the Sacramento SPCA said.
Although Bradshaw Animal Shelter and Elk Grove Animal Shelter are not participants in the Empty The Shelters event, they still have great deals to make it more cost-efficient to adopt animals.
At Elk Grove Animal Shelter, they are having a special for adult dogs and cats that are over one year, reducing the adoption fee to only $25.
At Bradshaw Animal Shelter, they've reduced their adoption fees for dogs to $50. For the few dogs that have been at the shelter for over 30 days, the adoption fee is fully waived.
"We're trying everything we can just to get pets back home, that's ultimately our goal," Annette Bedsworth, director of Bradshaw Animal Shelter said. "They don't belong in shelters, pets belong at home on their own beds and on their own couches, wherever they may be. They don't belong in shelters."
Inflation and staffing shortages have been at the forefront of many businesses this year, and just as there is a seasonal abundance of animals, many animal shelters are having the opposite effect on their employees.
"We're a small shelter here. We're only about 25 people together and only six of them are animal care team," Ashley Elamrani, the senior Customer Service Specialist at Elk Grove Animal Shelter said.
The community is one thing all animal shelters emphasize. As a result of inflation and staffing shortages, they have to rely on their volunteers and the community to help find homes for the animals.
"Having an abundance of animals in the shelter or stray animals in the community is really a community problem," Leilani Fratis, CEO of Placer. SPCA said. "We all need to work together, as an organization, as individuals in the community."
Help the Bissell Pet Foundation as well as our local animal shelters by donating, volunteering, and adopting.
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