City of Bloomington Animal Care and Control is going to great lengths in order to alleviate this issue during the holiday season.
Going on until the end of November, the shelter is promoting Adopt-a-Senior month. Older animals currently being cared for at the shelter can be adopted for half the normal price.
Laurie Ringquist , the shelter’s director, said this promotion is crucial due to the high volume of animals the organization constantly receives.
“Any animal that is five years or older we classify as a senior because we get so many younger animals,” Ringuist said. “Five isn’t really all that old, but with the large amount of senior animals the shelter receives we encourage people to adopt older pets.”
Ringquist, who has worked at the shelter for 11 years , said the organization accepts all types of domestic animals, except livestock. These strays are usually brought in by residents who find them wandering around or retained by the shelter from tips received by phone.
The adoption fee for dogs and cats is $27.50 and for rabbits it is $22.50 up until the last day of November, ?respectively.
In addition to finding loving homes to accommodate for all of its animals, the shelter is also preparing to collect much-needed pet items.
Starting next week, the organization will begin its annual supply drive by equipping local businesses with decorated boxes to accept donations from local Hoosiers. Donation drop-off sites will include Kroger, Bloomingfoods and American Rental.
The supply drive, which has taken place for the last 15 years , brings in the most amounts of donations for the shelter compared to all other times throughout the calendar year. It will start next Monday and continue up until New Years Day.
Volunteer coordinator Jenny Gibson said the shelter is constantly accepting donations year-round and that the supply drive is a huge assistance in helping the organization stay ?operational.
The most in-demand items are canned dog and cat food, blankets, paper towels, toys, litter and bleach, Gibson said. In addition, people are encouraged to donate any items they may already possess but are no longer utilizing.
“There a lot of things that can be donated even if they’ve already been used like extra dog and cat food or old towels and sheets for bedding. If it’s something you’re going to just throw away, most likely we can probably still use it here at the shelter,” Gibson said.
Typically each year, the distributed donation boxes receive around 50 or more items than the shelter is able to put to productive use.
Canned food is used to feed medication to sick animals and, because the shelter’s budget is limited, items like toys and treats are gladly excepted since the organization’s expenses usually cannot cover them as a first priority.
“People are very willing to assist us this time of year, which is great considering the amount of animals we care for here at any given time,” Gibson said. “We’re very thankful for having such a open and generous community.”
