HOST: The kennels at the Riverside County animal shelter are packed with dogs and cats.So last Saturday, Riverside County waived adoption fees and stayed open until midnight to help more furry friends find a fur-ever home. KVCR’s Madison Aument reports.
MADISON AUMENT: The animal shelter in Jurupa Valley is a bunch of long rectangular buildings arranged around a grassy yard. There’s one building for cats and five more for dogs.
(Shelter noise)
MADISON AUMENT: I’m walking through one of the buildings — there’s like 30 kennels with multiple dogs in each.
(Barking)
The kennels are packed... with puppies, older dogs, purebreds, mutts — all waiting to be adopted. It’s nearly 11 p.m., and Monica Hernandez is looking for a four-year-old pit bull named Fernanda.
MONICA HERNANDEZ: She’s on the red list.
MADISON AUMENT: Dogs end up on the red list when they’re scheduled to be euthanized the next day. Hernandez found out Fernanda was on the list via Instagram.
(Barking and whimpering from Fernanda)
Monica walked a long row of kennels — and found her.
MONICA HERNANDEZ: You wanna get out of here? Should we bust you out?
MADISON AUMENT: Hernandez pulled out a bag of treats. It was empty — but Fernanda didn’t mind.
(Fernanda licking the bag)
She licks the bag gratefully. Hernandez and Fernanda are a good match.
MONICA HERNANDEZ: Okay Fernanda…
MADISON AUMENT: Hernandez lives in Joshua Tree and drove an hour and a half to get here. She says, if the shelter hadn’t stayed open late, she wouldn’t have made it.
(Barking)
MONICA HERNANDEZ: So many people are working and they can’t get here.
(Barking)
VERONICA PEREZ: So we're really hoping that by extending hours till midnight, having free adoptions, and encouraging people to foster if they’re not able to adopt, that we're able to kind of help reduce the overcrowding that we're seeing.
MADISON AUMENT: Veronica Perez is with Riverside County Animal Services. She says the county’s shelter system is at 240 percent capacity.
VERONICA PEREZ: We just continue to see more dogs coming in than are leaving…
MADISON AUMENT: She says the problem gets worse after the 4th of July — when fireworks send scared dogs running for the hills. And Perez says the longer hours are working. On an average day, maybe a dozen pets get adopted or fostered. But when they stay open until midnight, more than 100 dogs have left the shelter.
(Clapping and cheering)
It’s 11:40, and a twelve-year-old mutt named Mack is getting adopted.
(More cheering and happy chatter)
The shelter staff is ecstatic. Mack has been at the shelter for months and is kind of like the shelter mascot. Shira Rich was clapping along.
SHIRA RICH: This is why we stay open till midnight... so that adoptions like this can happen.
(More cheering and clapping)
VERONICA PEREZ: We’re calling it a night. We saw a bunch of adoptions.
MADISON AUMENT: A bunch of adoptions. Literally, people are still leaving and it’s 12:05. For KVCR News, I’m Madison Aument in Jurupa Valley.