The St. Louis County animal shelter waived adoption fees Tuesday and Wednesday in an effort to boost pet adoptions at the crowded facility.
Shakira Nylon said she has been wanting a dog for a while, so when she heard about the adoption event on TikTok on Wednesday she came right away. She said the waiving of the adoption fee took some financial burden away.
“Now all my expenses can go to getting him what he needs at home,” Nylon said.
She said she adopted a 6-month-old terrier mix named Phineas.
“I'm ready to see him grow because right now he's super shy,” Nylon said. “But I know once I take him home, he’s going to loosen up.”
Legislation passed by the county council in October doubled the shelter’s adoption fees from $40 to $80, but also authorized two fee-waived adoption events per year, each for two consecutive days.
This is the first one this year, and Cunningham said there will likely be another one before the end of December. On Tuesday, the shelter found homes for four dogs and six cats, which is more than on a typical day. More adoptions were completed Wednesday.
Cunnigham said she wishes the county council would allow for more such opportunities.
“I would love to be able to be at liberty to host fee-waived adoption events if we’re getting over capacity, or if we see that we have a dog that’s been here for 60 days,” she said.
She said this is a common practice at many other shelters, and it has proven to be effective at reducing shelter populations. A safe capacity for the shelter is 80 dogs. Wednesday morning’s population was 164.
One concern among council members is that free adoption events will lead to pets going into unsafe circumstances. Cunningham said that there is no data to back up this claim, and that the shelter follows the same screening process for every adoption.
The shelter’s overpopulation has caused issues with plumbing and requires some animals to stay in cages that are too small. Cunningham said she needs funding from the county council and updated ordinances that allow for more free adoption events and put restrictions on backyard breeding.
There has been discussion of moving the shelter to a larger building, but if some renovations can be made, she said she believes the shelter can remain in its current building.
County Executive Sam Page proposed that more than $20 million in Rams settlement money be used for shelter improvements, but that idea has proved unpopular among most council members.
“We need some funds to help support,” Cunningham said. “We may not need the 20 million, but if we're going to make this work, I would say we need to have a genuine conversation.”
