KIPU — Through a collaboration with the Kaua‘i Humane Society and Best Friends Animal Society, adoption fees for all 110 dogs and 248 cats at KHS are waived from this Friday through Sunday.
The shelter is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and those interested in adoption are encouraged to make appointments by emailing customerservice@kauaihumane.org, said Caitlin Fowlkes, KHS marketing and communications specialist. Animals can also be seleced for adoption on the website, kauaihumane.org.
Walk-ins will be accommodated as best as staff can.
This is the Third National Adoption Weekend of the Best Friends Animal Society, and cannot come at a better time, as the KHS kennels are overflowing, she said.
The Best Friends Animal Society is an animal-welfare organization working to end the killing of cats and dogs in America’s shelters by 2025, and is teaming up with more than 600 shelter and rescue partners across the country for its third nationwide adoption campaign in six months to encourage people to choose to adopt, not buy, their next pet.
The Maui Humane Society is also participating.
The campaign coincides with Puppy Mill Awareness Day, and is a reminder for anyone looking for a new pet to consider adopting from a shelter, according to a release from the Best Friends Animal Society.
When people adopt, they typically get a pet that’s already spayed or neutered, microchipped and vaccinated. Perhaps best of all, they can feel good about potentially saving a pet’s life. Adoption also ensures that people don’t support the abusive and inhumane practices of the puppy-mill industry through pet stores and online sales.
Recent data released by the organization showed that U.S. shelters were seeing an increase in animal intakes and a decrease in pet adoptions from shelters. This has steadily turned into a crisis in the animal-welfare community, where many shelters are over capacity.
Anyone considering adding a new pet to their family can make a difference by choosing to adopt instead of purchasing their pet. In 2021, around 355,000 dogs and cats were killed in shelters just because they didn’t have safe places to call home.
“There is a growing shelter crisis across the country, and the animal-welfare community won’t just sit by and let innocent pets die,” said Julie Castle, CEO of Best Friends Animal Society.
