Crowding in the kennels

Ingham County Animal and Control Shelter lowers adoption fees, seeks more space

Posted
MONDAY, July 18 — As more people buy pets from commercial dog kennels, pet stores, or breeders, animal shelters are in trouble. The Ingham County Animal and Control Shelter, which hasn't had to euthanize an animal in three years, is in desperate need of space. Last week, the animal shelter lowered adoption fees by 75 percent to encourage more people to adopt so the shelter could free up space to provide shelter to more animals.

"The reduced fees brought in quite a few adopters, but we also continued to bring in a lot of animals," said Ashley Shaffier, volunteer liaison and special events planner. "Last week we adopted a lot of puppies and smaller dogs. We would love to find homes for some of our larger dogs as well. Those are the kennels that we are running out of."

The Ingham County Animal and Control Shelter is an open admission shelter. The staff and volunteers are doing everything they can to avoid euthanizing any animals. Besides encouraging adoptions, the shelter is working with other shelters that have available space, as well as lobbying the public to get stray animals off the streets and back to their homes.

"Summer is a tough time for all shelters and rescues so there isn't much room anywhere,” Shaffier said. “We're doing all we can.” Shelter volunteers even drove to Ohio last weekend to send a dog to a rescuer in Virginia. “If there's a way to get a dog out of this shelter to a safe place, we'll take it," Shaffier said.

All dogs are spayed/neutered, heartworm tested, vaccinated, and micro chipped. The Ingham County Animal Control Shelter, located at 600 Curtis St. in Mason, is open for adoptions Tuesdays and Wednesday noon-6 p.m. and Thursday-Saturday 11 a.m.-4 p.m. For more information, call (517) 676-8370 or visit ac.ingham.org.

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