BOSTON — Looking for a forever friend this Valentine’s Day? There is a four-pawed love waiting in a local shelter for you to bring them home.
Starting Friday and through the weekend, the MSPCA-Angell and several shelters in Massachusetts will waive adoption fees for all animals that have been in their care for longer than 30 days to help find them forever homes, the organizations said.
The adoptathon takes place Friday through Sunday, during open hours at all four MSPCA-Angell shelters in Boston, Methuen, Salem and Centerville on Cape Cod, as well as the Lowell Humane Society, Baypath Human Society and Thomas J. O’Connor Animal Control & Adoption Center.
The event is called “Worth the Wait” because all animals that have been in shelters 30 days or longer are eligible.
It marks the first time in its more than 150-year history that the MSPCA-Angell has suspended fees for all species in a single event.
“The majority of our events in the past year have focused on dogs, which makes sense given the capacity challenges we and our shelter partners often have,” Jamie Garabedian, project manager in the MSPCA-Angell’s Animal Protection Division, said in a statement.
“That’s still a reality, but recently—whether through Law Enforcement activity, owner surrender, or out-of-state transport—we’ve also seen more variety of animals come through our doors, and capacity across the board is tight,” Garabedian said.
She said a regularly scheduled cat transport from ACCT Philly on Feb. 10 was doubled to help the shelter handle a recent large intake.
“Given that we always want to have the space and ability to answer the call whenever animals need help, we thought it made sense to do something different—and quite frankly ambitious—by waiving fees for all species,” Garabedian said.
“And what better time than Valentine’s Day when people are already thinking about finding their perfect match!” she added.
The shelter environment is stressful for a lot of animals, and the longer they’re in the shelter, despite staff efforts, “the worse off their wellbeing is,” Garabedian said.
The goal is to find forever homes for animals who have been waiting at the shelters for a longer stretch of time.
“All of the pets in our care are equally worthy of finding homes where they’ll get the love and attention they deserve,” Garabedian said.
Shelter hours vary by location.
For more information on adopting, visit the MSPCA website.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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