Stockton Animal Shelter Waives Normal Adoption Fees

The Stockton City Council voted to waive the normal adoption fees for dogs and cats at the animal shelter. The move will cut costs for the city and reduce the number of euthanized animals.

With funding from the San Francisco SPCA, people have been able to adopt cats and dogs from the Stockton animal shelter with no fee since June.

Shelter Director Tammie Murrell says over the July 4th weekend, the shelter stayed open and ran a campaign to empty its cages.

"We adopted out 69 dogs and cats, three days, our past record for adoption was 60 in one month so we exceeded in three days our past record in a month."

With that success in mind, the Stockton City Council has waived adoption fees for the next four months.

Murrell says waiving those fees will save the city the cost of veterinary care, food, and will reduce the number of animals that have to be euthanized.

"So we know that reducing fees works, we know that reducing fees brings people through the door," Murrell explains.

Murrell says people must still prove they can afford and care the animal they want to adopt.