Berrien County Animal Services is marking the holiday this week with some special offers and events.
Shelter manager Ashley Herr tells us thanks to support from the Best Friends Animal Society, all pet adoption fees are being waived through Wednesday. The dog adoption fee is usually $85, while the cat fee is $30.
Herr says anyone thinking of finding a new furry friend should come out this week because the shelter could use some help.
“We are just about completely full,” Herr said. “We had a lot of intakes just this morning as well. We have a full adoption floor for dogs. We have a full adoption floor for cats. And something that is different is we also have half of our dog isolation area is full of adoptable pets as well.”
Herr says they’re going to host an open house on Wednesday from 1 to 5:30 p.m. It’ll be a chance for those thinking about adopting to meet their new best friend before taking them home. And that’s not all.
“We’re going to have ornament making in our break room for any small kids that would like to come out, or if you’re just looking for like a family outing to do, you can pick a shape, you can decorate it, color it however you would like, and then we’re actually going to laminate them and hang them on a piece of ribbon for everyone to take home. We’ll have cookies for everyone to come and sample, and we’re going to have the Christmas tree and all the lights going.”
Herr says there are plenty of great dogs and cats to meet, noting the shelter currently has several breeds of dogs. Also, Animal Services is looking for those who would like to provide foster homes to animals in the shelter, freeing up space at the facility by taking pets home with them on a temporary basis.
“In general, so I mean if this weekend is the only weekend that you have time off and you want to just do it for the holidays, that’s totally fine,” Herr said. “If it’s something you’re interested in and have wanted to try out for a while and it become a long-term sort of thing, we can do that as well. We have multiple fosters who come in and they’ll pick up an animal for the weekend or they’ll take it home for a week and then they’ll take a couple weeks off just because that’s how life works for them. So, whichever it works for that particular person or family, we’re happy to accommodate.”
Meanwhile, Herr says the shelter could use all kinds of donations heading into the new year. She says anything helps, from food to treats to cleaning supplies.
Anyone who wants to learn more can just call Berrien County Animal Services.
