Find Out How You Can Adopt A Shelter Dog Fee-Free This Week

SALEM, MA — The MSPCA-Angell, Northeast Animal Shelter of Salem and affiliated Massachusetts coalition shelters are looking to rehome 100 or more dogs this week as part of their "Big Dog Energy" fee-waived adoption campaign.

The latest campaign runs from Monday through Sunday, April 27, at 10 shelters across the state with the goal to ease the capacity crunch at the shelters and open more room for local take-ins and transports.

"We've been saying for a long time that adoptions of larger dogs have slowed down over the past couple of years, and it's causing a capacity problem for us and many other shelters, including those in the coalition," MSPCA-Angell's Animal Protection Division Project Manager Jamie Garabedian said. "Now, we're also seeing an increase in local dog intake, which includes strays, surrenders, and seizures related to law enforcement cases."

She said the level of dog intakes is up 11 percent year over year since 2024. All dogs available for adoption have been spayed or neutered.

"We want to continue to be there for all the animals who need to come into our care for various reasons, but if we aren’t able to free up space, that might not be possible," Garabedian said.

All four MSPCA-Angell Adoption Centers — in Boston, Methuen, Salem, and Centerville on Cape Cod—are participating in the event, as well as Lowell Humane Society and MASS coalition partners Berkshire Humane Society, Worcester Animal Rescue League, Boston Animal Control, Dakin Humane Society, and Thomas J. O'Connor Animal Control & Adoption Center.

"Since the start of the coalition last July, we've adopted out more than 500 dogs during these collaborative fee-waived events, which is really great, but we still need help," Garabedian said. "We have strong momentum and support from the community, so we’re hoping that they hear our call and come out to adopt."

Hours vary by location, with Dakin Humane participating only on April 25 and April 26.

More information may be found here.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. X/Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)