Local Animal Shelters Vying For Grant Money

Local animal shelters, including are competing for cash and it's getting heated.

The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) is offering grant money to the shelter that can adopt out, return to owners, or rescue 300 more animals between August 1 and October 31 as compared to last year.

The ASPCA organized the challenge as a way to boost pet adoptions nationwide. More than $300,000 in grant funding is available to shelters showing the most improved adoption rates. The grand prize is $100,000. The grant money will be used to assist pets.

The shelters had to qualify for the ASPCA Challenge. Several local shelters made the cut, including Southwest Communities, as well as Riverside County Animal Services, which operates shelters county wide.

To increase its odds of winning some of the grant money, Southwest Communities Animal Shelter is kicking off its “FurrEver Homes” campaign that is seeing all adoptions rates cut in half, plus the cost of spay/neuter. There is a minimum $25 adoption fee.

On Aug. 7, the shelter will do an official campaign kickoff with special giveaways, a shelter mascot-naming contest, and an appearance by Thunder of the Lake Elsinore Storm.

Southwest Communities Animal Shelter opened in Wildomar last year and serves the cities of Wildomar, Lake Elsinore, Temecula, Murrieta, and Canyon Lake through a joint powers authority agreement.

For its part, the county has also turned on the competitive heat. A “Five-Dollar Feline” adoption promo is taking place at three county shelters: Blythe, the Coachella Valley Animal Campus in Thousand Palms and the Western Riverside County/City Animal Shelter in Jurupa Valley. Every cat or kitten can be adopted at these shelters for only $5 through Oct. 31.

The Department of Animal Services lowered the adoption rate for cats specifically because adoptions for felines have been very sluggish, according to a county news release.

“The $5 cat adoption rate will hopefully remind the public that we have a large homeless cat population at our shelters – and they need loving families just as much as the dogs,” said Robert Miller, director of Riverside County Animal Services.  “We also wanted to do something very dramatic for our first-ever participation in the ASPCA Challenge.”