Dog Adoption Fees Waived This Week at Alexandria Animal Shelter

ALEXANDRIA, VA -- The Animal Welfare League of Alexandria is waiving its dog adoption fees this week after receiving six new dogs from North Carolina, where shelters there were overburdened due to rescuing animals from Hurricane Matthew.

The dog adoption fees at the Alexandria animal shelter will be waived through Sunday, Oct., 23, according to Shannon Swanson, communications manager for the shelter.

"In a situation like this, the shelter partnered with the Humane Society when the hurricane hit," she said. A tractor-trailer hired by the Humane Society to move the animals pulled into the Alexandria parking lot Saturday to deliver six dogs and was heading out to deliver another 80 animals to other shelters, Swanson said.

The North Carolina shelters emptied their shelters of adoptable pets in order to make room for lost pets or pets that were left behind due to flood waters.

The dogs that are available for adoption in Alexandria are all of the dogs that were in the shelter before the North Carolina dogs, plus possibly some of the North Carolina dogs, but those dogs first need to be vetted by the Alexandria shelter for any behavioral or health issues, Swanson said.

If you adopt a dog this week, you won't have to pay the regular adoption fee, which is $150 for dogs under eight years old and $75 for dogs ages 8 and up. That includes the dog being spayed or neutered, a free visit to a vet and the dog being current on their vaccinations. The fee is also waived for any "bonded" dogs that are pals that the shelter wants adopted together; that would normally cost $200.

If you visit with a dog and want to think about whether to make the commitment to adopt it, you can pay a non-refundable holding fee of $50 for the shelter to hold the dog under your name for 24 hours, Swanson said.

"All of these dogs have weathered some kind of storm," Swanson noted. You can see which dogs are available for adoption on the Animal Welfare League of Alexandria Web site or by visiting the shelter, located at 4101 Eisenhower Ave. in Alexandria.

The shelter is open daily from 12 noon to 7 p.m.; Saturdays and Sundays, it's open from 12 noon to 5 p.m. and it's closed on Wednesdays.

PHOTO of Franco, a tan male pug/Brussels Griffon courtesy of Animal Welfare League of Alexandria