Reduced Fees See Increased Pet Adoption

in Wildomar along with Riverside County shelters have drastically reduced pet adoption fees, and it seems to be paying off dividends.

Discounted licensing fees resulted in the adoptions of hundreds of abandoned and abused cats from Riverside County animal shelters in August, according to Riverside County Animal Services spokesman John Welsh.

The county's Department of Animal Services ran a “Five-Dollar Fuzz Ball'' promotion last month, offering residents the opportunity to adopt a feline for $5 rather than the customary $45.

The result was 426 cats adopted, compared to 165 adoptions in August 2010, Welsh said. Due to the success of the campaign, officials have decided to continue it through Oct. 31, he said. And starting today, the Department of Animal Services will also slash adoption fees for dogs.

The “Forty-Dollar Fido'' promotion will last through September, with any canine available to take home for $40 instead of $85.

Here in Wildomar, Southwest Communities Animal Shelter, which is not a county-operated shelter, is featuring half off all adoption fees ($25 minimum). The fee does not include spay/neuter fees.

Senior citizens get an even better deal at Southwest Communities: Adoption fees are waived for those 60 and older who adopt mature pets (dogs 5 years and older; 2 years and older on cats). The waiver does not include applicable spay/neuter fees.

The reduction in fees has been spurred on by grant money: Both Southwest Communities Animal Shelter and the Riverside County shelters are competing for a $100,000 grant offered through the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals national adoption Challenge, which runs Aug. 1 through Oct. 31. Under the contest rules, the shelter that saves the largest number of kittens, cats, puppies and dogs, as compared to the same period last year, will be awarded the Challenge grant.

As of Aug. 27, Southwest Communities Animal Shelter, which is goaling to adopt out or return-to-owner 1,300 pets during the contest period, has almost reached the one-third mark at 393 animals.

The ASPCA organized the Challenge as a way to boost pet adoptions nationwide. The grant money must be used to assist shelter animals. –City News Service and Toni McAllister contributed to this report.