Crammed with cats, Dakin shelter cuts adoption fee
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SPRINGFIELD - It is a tale of 200 kitties - that is the number of felines waiting to be adopted at Dakin Pioneer Valley Humane Society. The need to find homes for the kittens and cats, of all ages and types, is so urgent that the shelter is offering broad adoption discounts through the month of July.
"There is a great need for homes. We're packed," said Candy Lash, director of community and media relations, last week. Though adoption revenues are critical to "keep us going, we're willing to sacrifice (revenue) to save lives," she said.
She said she was heartened by brisk adoptions last week, which opened spots for the 100 or so cats and kittens in foster homes.
Rows and rows of cages in the adoption room hold handsome felines like Popcorn, Haley and Elmo, all wearing yellow identification tags. As a visitor walks through, some of them come to the front of their cages, poking their paws through the bars. Others hang back, ears perked, eyes wide. A pair of kittens wrestle in one cage. A few cats are curled up, sleeping. A disproportionate number of all-black, and black-and-white cats also are in cages, as well as several in the play room. Lash said she believes that because of their color, people tend to walk past them in search of more brightly colored animals.
While summer always leads to an influx of felines, Lash said, a combination of the continuing poor economy, forcing owners to surrender their pets, a particularly robust birthing season leading to more kittens than usual, and other situations where "people's lives change," have resulted in the feline housing crunch at the shelter's locations in Springfield and Leverett.
Lash expressed pride that since the shelter last August expanded its operations to the sprawling Springfield location, no healthy, adoptable animal, from dogs to rabbits, has had to be euthanized. "We're far ahead of our three-year goal" in that respect, she said.
Hoping to keep that record intact, Lash said the shelter is cutting its fee for kitten adoption by half, to $75. It is waiving the $125 adoption fee altogether for cats age 1 or older, asking instead that prospective adopters make a donation of any amount.
Between 35 and 50 cats are displayed on the adoption floor at a given time. The others, in back rooms, are awaiting spaying or neutering and shots.
Lash said people will have no trouble finding their dream feline. "We have all ages, colors and personalities. If you don't see what you want today, you will tomorrow," she said.
Last week proved to be a dream week for the shelter, which dubbed its effort "Operation Save Kittens." Between Monday and Sunday, 57 kittens and 36 adult cats found new homes, according to Lash.
Debbie Roda, 51, of Agawam, and her son, Frank, 24, were part of last week's success. They recently lost their beloved Obi, 9. "The house was like a tomb," Debbie Roda said. "We need the companionship."
Responding to an advertisement featuring kittens at Dakin, they went there last Wednesday and took home two 8-week-old brothers they renamed Guido and Crixus.
She mentioned the great number of cats at the shelter. "Oh my goodness," she said. "If I could have taken home three or four, I would have."
Asked how the kittens, which she described as looking like "little Dalmatians," are doing after a couple of days, she said, "Nothing beats a shelter animal. They're so grateful. And you will be, too."
