PRINCETON —
Today is the final day people seeking a dog or cat can adopt one for free at the Mercer County Animal Shelter.
The Home, Sweet, Home Adoption Fair started with reduced adoption fees, but the fair switched to free adoptions after Grant’s Supermarket offered to cover the fees until Saturday, Dec. 29. The shelter is open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. today.
When the fair began Dec. 17, the shelter was caring for approximately 160 dogs and cats. The shelter personnel try to keep the population at about 150.
By Thursday, 95 of these homeless animals had been adopted, said Director Lisa Williams. On some days, as many as 30 animals were adopted. On good days before the fair, the shelter saw five or six adoptions.
There are now plans to make Home, Sweet, Home Fair an annual event.
“We will definitely do that because it’s been a success,” Williams said Friday. “We’ve seen a lot of people come in, and hopefully through this we’ve made a lot of people aware of the shelter and what a good place it is.”
Visitors often wanted to adopt a particular type of companion.
“We’ve adopted out a lot of cats, and that’s something that very rarely gets adopted because we get so many of them,” Williams said.
In some case, a person has adopted more than one cat; the cats keep each other company while the owner is away from home, she said. Other people want a specific type of dog.
“People seem to want a lot of small dogs,” Williams noted.
Some pet owners want smaller canines because they live in a small home or apartment that isn’t suited for larger dogs that need plenty of space and exercise, Williams said.
“If you try to put a large dog in an apartment and it doesn’t get a lot of exercise, it’s hard on them,” she said.
Local News
Related Photos
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Going home... Volunteer Stephen Farmer lifts Chester, a soon-to-be-adopted tomcat, out of his box at the Mercer County Animal Shelter. Staff photo by Jon Bolt
Discussion
December 29, 2012
Today is final day to adopt a new pet for free at Mercer Animal Shelter
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