PANAMA CITY — Serina Junger says the holidays are the perfect time to help more animals find their “forever home.”
As animal services manager for Bay County, Junger said Bay County Animal Control is working to help that happen by reducing its adoption fee this week from $25 to $10. Located at 6401 Bay Line Drive, the facility had about 20 dogs and 15 cats available for adoption on Friday.
All are up to date on shots, have been spayed or neutered and microchipped.
To help more animals find their forever home, Bay County Animal Control is reducing its adoption fee this week from $25 to $10.
“We are very close to capacity,” she said. “Shelter management is very important. Once we start getting those higher numbers (with) our kennels getting full, then that’s when we start looking at different ways to help move the animals.”
Junger noted the facility is the only operating animal shelter that oversees the entire county. It takes in strays, as well as dogs or cats surrendered by their owners.
All animals at the facility are held for a minimum of three days before being put up for adoption. There also are instances in which timid animals are kept a bit longer.
“If we get a dog (or cat) in that’s a little shy, a little scared, we work with them a little longer,” Junger said. “We try to socialize with the animals as much as we can just to be sure they’re going to be a good adoption candidate.”
The shelter also allows those interested in adoption who already have other dogs to bring them in for “meet-and-greets.” This is available for only dogs, not cats.
Bay County Animal Control will be open for adoptions next week from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Monday and Friday, 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday and Thursday, 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Saturday and closed on Wednesday. It also will be closed for lunch from noon to 1 p.m. everyday except Saturday.
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“The adoption fee will be $10,” Junger said. “The (requirements are) a valid ID, no prior animal offenses, and that $10 gets you a spayed or neutered animal completely age-appropriate vaccinated with a heart-worm preventative, a microchip and a fee preventative on board as well.
“So (the animal) is completely vaccinated and ready to go.”
This article originally appeared on The News Herald: Bay Animal Control lowers adoption fee so animals find ‘forever home’
