The St. Louis County Pet Adoption Center will waive adoption fees Tuesday and Wednesday in an effort to boost pet adoptions.
All adoptable pets will be spayed and neutered. Animals will also be vaccinated and microchipped. Shelter hours will also be extended to 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.
The event will be the county’s first waived adoption fee event since it took over the shelter earlier this year. The shelter was previously run by the Animal Protective Association.
“Our hope out of this is to actually reduce the population,” Animal Care and Control Division Director Malik Johnson said. “Our hope is to match [owners] with that perfect animal, that animal that fits their family and that animal that can be their forever friend.”
Johnson said it’s common for shelters to waive adoption fees but said the county is doing it because of how crowded the shelter is. The shelter is holding about 160 dogs in a building intended for about 80.
The shelter has been the source of controversy, including one involving a parvovirus outbreak that resulted in the shelter euthanizing 19 dogs.
In October, the county council voted to increase pet adoption fees from $40 to $80. Council members said the vote was to help address the county’s $60 million budget deficit. St. Louis County Executive Sam Page and Dr. Kanika Cunningham, the county's health director, criticized the new fees over concerns that the more expensive fees would lead to fewer adoptions and increase the risk of euthanasia. Page has also called for about $20 million in Rams settlement funds to help fund and improve the shelter.
The legislation allows the county to hold two waived adoption fee events per year for two consecutive days and during emergencies. Johnson said these events are critical to keeping the population under control and that the shelter incorporates protocols and a vetting process to ensure animals are adopted into safe environments.
“People, again, have their concern that they walk in with a license, that they're going to walk out with the dog,” Johnson said. “That's not true.”
