A local animal shelter is hoping a different kind of March Madness will help find dogs and cats a home.
For the entire month of March, Thunder Bay Animal Services is reducing its adoption fee to $50.
The fee is usually $200 for a cat or $220 for a dog. Along with being spayed or neutered, the animals are vaccinated, microchipped and dewormed for the fee. Supervisor Jody Kondrat said there are about 20 cats and 12 dogs looking for a home.
“We’ve got lots of great animals up for adoption,” she said.
As spring arrives the shelter sees more animals come through. Reducing the fee will help free up space by finding animals a home, some who have been there for more than a year.
There was a time when a shelter would never think of reducing it fees because it might encourage impulse adoption. But Kondrat said times have changed.
“Because they felt that people would undervalue an animal if they got it at a discount or didn’t pay anything at all. But new research has proven that that simply isn’t the case,” she said. “People do value animals at a reduced price and what we’re trying to do here is just make it really affordable to be a responsible pet owner.”
Still, Kondrat encourages people to do their homework before adopting a pet and stresses that it is a family decision not to be taken lightly.
The campaign kicks off Saturday at animals services on Alloy Place with an open house, which includes door prizes and children’s activities.
