Mansfield tries to find pets homes in Clear the Shelter

‍

By Amanda Rogers

Mansfield Record

Joshua Thompson of Mansfield clutched the 10-week-old Chihuahua puppy as his wife, Tabitha, stroked its head. The newlyweds had just adopted the pup from Mansfield Animal Care & Control.

“I was in foster care, too,” Tabitha Thompson said, “and he was born the day before we were married.”

The couple is one of dozens that will bring home a new member of the family in August – for free. This is Clear the Shelter month and all pets adopted from the animal shelter will be free.

“It’s not about the money,” said Tabitha Thompson, who admitted that she didn’t know that her new pup’s adoption fee would be waived. “It’s about bringing a new member into the family.”

A lot of people who adopt in August don’t realize that adoptions are free this month, said Lori Strittmatter, animal care and control manager. And that’s a big change from when the Clear the Shelter started in 2015.

“We were at a Metroplex shelter manager meeting and Corey Price, who was then the Irving Animal Shelter manager, said ‘What if we did an adoption event and agreed to waive the fees for one day?’” Strittmatter remembered. “Everyone signed on and it ended up blowing up. In 2017, it went nationwide.”

For the first few years, the shelter did find homes for all of their adoptable animals, with crowds packing the facility and taking home new pets.

And then COVID-19 hit.

“For years, it was just a day,” Strittmatter said. “The year COVID hit, we knew we couldn’t have that many people in here. We drew it out to a week, and then (in 2021) to a month.”

For the month of August, Mansfield Animal Care & Control waives the normal $70 fee, which includes vaccinations, a microchip, flea treatment, a city license and a certificate to get the pet spayed or neutered.  

Even though the adoptions are free, the shelter staff spends time with the prospective new owners to find out about their activity level and how much room they have for the new pet to roam, Strittmatter said. New owners also have to provide a driver’s license, she said.

The staff hopes that the new pet owners pass on their financial windfall by donating to the Lucky Fund, which helps pay the veterinary bills for sick or injured animals that come into the shelter.

The Mansfield shelter takes in approximately 1,500 domestic animals annually, adopts out about 650 and returns or turns into rescue another 650 animals, Strittmatter said. Others that are terminally ill or have behavior problems are euthanized, she said.

Now would be a really good time to adopt, Strittmatter said, and not just because the fees are waived.

“Adoptions have fallen since COVID, especially now with people losing their houses,” she said. “This is the busiest anyone remembers with intake up 30 percent.

“Try the shelter first,” Strittmatter said. “We get everything. And do your research on a breed before you come.”

Mansfield Animal Care & Control is at 407 Industrial Boulevard. The shelter is open from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday and the second Saturday of the month from noon to 4 p.m.

‍