The San Martin Animal Shelter, which operates through funding from Santa Clara County and donations, is waiving the usual adoption fees for dozens of animals that have been impounded since Aug. 1 as part of an ongoing promotion to find forever homes for some of the shelter’s more veteran residents.
“As of Wednesday, I have 17 cats and four dogs that have an intake date prior to Aug. 1. So I am waiving the adoption fees for all of those animals but donations are always welcome,” Interim Animal Shelter Supervisor Jeremy Selbach said.
He explained that the shelter operates under a “no kill” policy and that space for animals is always at a premium – especially right now.
“We don’t put anything to sleep here,” Selbach said. “I want to get some of these animals that have been here a long time out of here. They’re taking up a lot of space and it’s not fair to these guys to have them sitting in a kennel for so long.”
All animals that pass through the shelter are either spayed or neutered, micro-chipped, given all age-appropriate vaccines and are de-wormed.
The regular adoption fees at the shelter are $90 for cats, $100 for kittens under 4 months old, $110 for dogs and $120 for puppies. Selbach said those fees can sometimes be a deterrent for prospective pet owners.
“It doesn’t hurt us to get an animal out of here sooner rather than later,” he said.
Susan Bukus, who has volunteered at the shelter since June, said she knows one of the more veteran shelter dogs – a pit bull-terrier mix named Harry. The young male, roughly 2 years and 4 months old, served as an ambassador for the shelter at the recent Taste of Morgan Hill after he was found near the intersection of Ogier Avenue and Monterey Road in Morgan Hill on June 6.
“Harry is a super dog. It was very crowded (at the Taste of Morgan Hill) with lots of people, lots of animals, lots of kids and lots of noise,” Bukus said. “Harry walked up and down the streets just as cool as a cucumber. He was the perfect ambassador for the shelter.”
Bukus said during a weekend in August, the shelter held a free adoption event for animals 4 months or older.
“During that one weekend, we got out 110 animals; it was amazing,” she said.
But if animals are not adopted, such as the 21 that have been sitting at the shelter for at least three-and-a-half months, Bukus said animals can potentially stay indefinitely without finding a new home.
“What we might do then is get them out to foster care,” she explained.
There are “some pluses and some minuses” to that scenario, Bukus explained. Foster care frees up additional space in the shelter more room and also gives the foster animals more of a regular home. This gets them socialized to get along with kids or other animals. On the flipside, however, “they’re not at the shelter and no one sees them,” Bukus said.
Detailing the compassion that shelter staff have for the animals, Bukus said it’s “well-run, very clean and people are super with the animals.”
Volunteers walk the dogs and let the cats out at least once a day and all animals are fed between two and three times daily.
“These dogs and cats do make great companions because they’ve been raised well, a lot of them come in knowing commands and many are housebroken,” Bukus said. “They’re very loving.”
The San Martin Animal Shelter is located at 12370 Murphy Ave. in San Martin and is open seven days a week from noon to 6 p.m. weekdays and from noon to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. For more information, call (408) 686-3900 or click here.
