By Michael Coughlin Jr.
The Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals – Angell Animal Medical Center (MSPCA-Angell) is on the hunt for those who can adopt dogs by holding monthly adoption events this summer at all of its adoption centers.
The first event, coined Hot Fur Summer, was a fee waived adoption event for adult large breed dogs and ran from June 12 to June 18 to the tune of tremendous success. Over the week MSPCA-Angell was able to adopt out 100 dogs between its four adoption center locations in Jamaica Plain, Centerville, Methuen, and Salem.
100 dogs is a number that Mike Keiley MSPCA-Angell’s Director of Adoption Centers and Programs, said “Is the most number of dogs in a week that I’ve ever seen in my 29 years at the MSPCA.”
The good news for those who might have missed this past week’s event is that at least two more events are planned for the second week of July and August. Currently, the details are still being hammered out for each.
When details for these events do become available, they can be found on the MSPCA-Angell website — https://www.mspca.org/ — and on its various social media accounts, which can be found on the aforementioned website.
According to Keiley, these summer events have spawned in direct response to a need for adopters.
“Part of the story goes back to 2020 when Covid hit, and services were shifted to emergency only. We saw a record sort of decrease in intake into shelters which meant that shelters around the country all of a sudden had all this space that they’ve never had before,” said Keiley.
“But we also saw this massive interest in adoption that’s also never risen to those levels before,” he added.
Moreover, Keiley explained that as 2021 came along, and services opened up, intake began to increase while adoption interest remained steady. Then in 2022, the space acquired in shelters during Covid began to dwindle, and adoption decreased a little as well.
“But as 2022 went on and as we entered 2023, all of that space sort of had been backfilled and then some, and now we’re seeing sort of this extra problem which is the decrease in adoption interest,” said Keiley.
Keiley mentioned that the decrease in adoption interest — which he partly attributed to the economy and inflation — has been felt here in Massachusetts, which he described as surprising because the area does not have the same overpopulation issues as some southern shelters MSPCA-Angell partners with.
This adoption decrease is an issue, especially for MSPCA-Angell, in that if it cannot adopt out, it then cannot take on relocation from places like the aforementioned overpopulated southern shelters.
“We really thought that putting out this messaging about what’s happening in animal welfare to raise awareness that shelters are overcrowded and ultimately animals are at risk for euthanasia when that happens,” said Keiley.
While Keiley was grateful for the response to last week’s event, he underscored the importance of finding more people who can adopt.
“We’re really thankful for everybody that responded to the message, and we know that there’s so many more people out there that hopefully will hear this message and respond. We need a lot more adopters all summer long,” he said.
Keiley also specifically called upon adopters at its Boston location, which, as mentioned, is located in Jamaica Plain, saying, “We haven’t seen quite that same response from people in the Boston area to our Boston location. I’m not sure why so we’re really hopeful that we can stimulate as many adoptions out of Boston as possible in the next coming weeks.”
It should be noted that while you may not be able to adopt, MSPCA-Angell has many ways for people to get involved, such as becoming a foster home, a volunteer, or even donating.
“We’re going to keep innovating as long as we need to until every dog has found a home,” said Keiley.