For the entire month of March, Helen Woodward Animal Center is taking unprecedented steps to increase adoptions. In addition to cutting adoption fees in half, the Center will be providing food, litter, pet supplies and even gas cards to help ease the cost of bringing loving furry family members into homes. The reason? A record low in pet adoptions from coast-to-coast is causing a major crisis in the world of animal welfare and a startling jump in the number of orphan dogs and cats euthanized in other parts of the country. The Center encourages the community to save a life and adopt a pet.
For the last several decades, Helen Woodward Animal Center has placed its focus on transporting in orphan pets from outside of San Diego County. Local governances have made the city a safer place for orphan pets by enacting no-kill ordinances, and spay and neuter laws. In other parts of the country, however, the number of healthy pets who lose their lives simply based on lack of shelter space is unimaginable. A terrifying uptick in country-wide euthanasia (up by 64%) in 2023 is the result of nearly one million fewer pet-adoptions than the previous year, as reported by the Shelter Animals Count (SAC).
In San Diego, however, the news is only slightly better. While no-kill laws keep orphan pets alive, a severe drop off in adoptions means shelter dogs and cats spend weeks, months, and even years in kennels, gradually becoming harder to place. Worse, while these animals fill up kennels, orphan pets in other parts of the country are unable to make the transport out west to find a no-kill haven of their own.
“The situation is very serious,” said Helen Woodward Animal Center Pet Acquisition Manager LaBeth Thompson. “We are having to turn down partners we have worked with for years and years. They are in tears and frankly, we are too. We simply can’t bring in more animals if we don’t have the space for them and the number of potential adopters coming through the doors is the lowest we’ve seen in years. We’re hearing the same thing from shelters across the country.”
So where are the adopters? Studies indicate that the decline in adoption numbers is a result of inflation and an uneasy political climate. When families feel unsure about what’s to come, they are less likely to spend money on non-essentials and the loss of shelter pets lives is the tragic result.
In an effort to reinvigorate the flow of pets from rescue partners in through Helen Woodward Animal Center’s doors and then out into loving homes, the Center is taking the drastic step to cut adoption fees in half. The move is one taken cautiously by Helen Woodward Animal Center’s president and CEO Mike Arms.
“It’s extremely important to me that the message is not that we are discounting these precious lives,” said Arms. “We will still have the same rigorous screening and interview process to ensure that these pets are being placed with caring pet-owners. The Center’s adoption fees have always been a way to remind families that pets are a responsibility and an investment. However, the extreme loss of lives across the country is too unbearable to ignore. If we can help families dealing with higher costs and tighter budgets, we want to want to do our part in making it more affordable to bring dogs and cats into loving homes. That movement will open up kennel space and allow us to pull more orphan pets from high-kill locations, saving more lives.”
Helen Woodward Animal Center encourages anyone looking to bring a pet into their home to consider rescue first, and support local animal shelters. Throughout the month of March, Helen Woodward Animal Center will be open seven days a week, adoption fees will be cut in half, Blue Buffalo will provide a 4 pound bag of puppy food, Naturally Fresh will provide a bag of cat litter, Kahoots Pet and Feed Store will provide a $10 gift card, and the first 100 adopters will receive a $25 gas card. For those who can’t adopt, the Center encourages families to consider fostering.
For more information, please contact Helen Woodward Animal Center Adoptions Department at: 858-756-4117 ext. 313, visit https://animalcenter.org/ or stop by at 6461 El Apajo Road in Rancho Santa Fe.
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About Helen Woodward Animal Center
Helen Woodward Animal Center is a private, non-profit organization where “people help animals and animals help people.” Founded in 1972 in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., the Center provides services for more than 90,000 people and more than 10,000 animals annually through adoptions, educational and therapeutic programs both onsite and throughout the community. Helen Woodward Animal Center is also the creator of the International Home 4 the Holidays pet adoption drive, the International Remember Me Thursday® campaign and The Business of Saving Lives Workshops, teaching the business of saving lives to animal welfare leaders from around the world. For more information, go to: www.animalcenter.org.