Animals at Ontario SPCA locations throughout the province are available at a 20% discount through the end of this weekend in an effort to promote more adoptions, but Kingston’s Humane Society has been ahead of the game trying to find homes for the animals in their care.
The Ontario SPCA announced they would be holding this 20% off promotion from September 13 – September 15, meanwhile since the beginning of July, adoption fees for adult and senior dogs in Kingston have already been slashed by 50%.
Executive Director Gord Hunter says the shelter is constantly not just at capacity, but operating while above it, and the shelter has been trying to eliminate barriers to adoption as much as possible.
He said it has helped have an impact on overcrowding, which allows the shelter to take in more animals rather than have to turn them away.
“Our capacity in the building is 144, and today we’re at 236 which is actually, strangely enough, a good number comparatively,” Hunter said.
“When we started this promotion back in July, we were well over 250 animals, and that’s kind of our shutdown number.”
The Kingston Humane Society introduced the promotion in July in preparation for fall, which Hunter says is typically the busiest season.
He says it’s clear by the number of animals leaving the shelter to forever homes that the promotion has had an impact.
“We average in summer around the low 60s for adoptions per month, our August numbers were 88 I believe,” Hunter said.
“We’re already turning towards being well over what we would expect normally for September. So it has helped us.”
Hunter says while the fees have been cut to ease adoption slightly, the shelter stresses to potential adopters the level of ongoing cost and responsibility that adopting a pet will require.
On September 21 the shelter will also be hosting their annual Big Paws Event in City Park, an event that Hunter says typically leads to a fair amount of dog adoptions and donations – however registration for this year’s event is currently lower than usual.
The 50% off promotion is scheduled to run until the end of September, but Hunter says if the number of pets on hand is still quite high they could extend it through October as well.
