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Free adoption event at animal shelter

240 animals at local shelter

Deborah Prescott | Daily Press Volunteer Jan Boileau holds “Mouse” recently at the Delta Animal Shelter. Mouse is a kitten who was brought to the shelter with four fractures in one leg. Due to the particular positions of the fractures, Mouse has to have its leg amputated in a couple weeks. Boileau has volunteered at the shelter for many years. She enjoys socializing cats brought to the shelter that need it. “It doesn’t matter how much they hiss and spit, I always win,” said Boileau. The shelter is part of the Bissel Free Adoption event on Saturday, Oct. 12.

ESCANABA — The Delta Animal Shelter (DAS) has been chosen again by the Bissell Pet Foundation to host a Bissell Free Adoption on Saturday, Oct. 12. The adoption event will be held at the DAS, located at 6975 County 426 M.5 Rd., from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

“We were just picked as a shelter and we’re thrilled,” said Shelter Manager Susie Gartland. “If anybody is interested in adopting it’s a great event.”

The Bissell Pet Foundation pays the adoption fee for every animal that finds a forever home during the event. According to Gartland, 57 percent of the people who adopted during a Bissell Free Adoption event never adopted from a shelter before.

“We’re hoping to empty our shelter,” said Gartland. “Although we have a lot of animals … if we can get half of them into homes we would be thrilled.”

She’s hoping there will be a high number of animals adopted.

“Sixty-seven would be a good repeat number,” she said. “We’ll have a lot of kittens and cats, some bunnies, a hamster, a turtle, and lots of dogs that will be ready.”

According to Gartland, 98 percent of the animals adopted during the last event are still home. The dedicated staff and volunteers at the DAS perform normal screenings during events like the one sponsored by Bissell. Each person adopting has a background check performed on them before an animal is released into their care. They also prepare animals for adoption by spaying/neutering, vaccinating, and micro-chipping.

As of Sept. 26, there were 240 animals in the shelter, some waiting patiently for a home. Half of the animals in the building are not ready for adoption. Pictures of animals for adoption are on the shelter’s website, Facebook, and Instagram sites.

“When you look at the viewer, you do not see all of the animals in the building,” said Gartland. “There are a lot that are not ready for adoption yet.”

She noted the animal could be on stray hold or medical hold. Currently, the shelter has quite a few animals out in foster care.

This time of year the shelter normally houses more cats than other animals.

“Cats are seasonal breeders, so this time of year we’re typically at our highest population of cats to begin with, and that’s just because of the breeding cycle,” said Gartland.

“Typically this is our busy time of year regardless, but there was a police situation where there was an enormous amount of cats in a mobile home. Once the other things were situated, as far as that case, we assisted law enforcement and went in and removed 32 cats from the residence,” said Gartland.

Cats removed from the mobile home have been vaccinated, spayed/neutered, and through a deflea, demite, and deworming process. About half of the cats are available for adoption now.

“I’m confident we’ll adopt them all,” Gartland said.

Sixty-seven animals found a home during the last fall event in the shelter.

Besides the Bissell Free Adoption event, the DAS is holding the 8th Annual “Fur” Raiser, “Furry Fiesta”, Oct. 24, at the Island Resort and Casino, located at W. 399 US 2, Harris. Event activities start at 5 p.m. with an auction, games, and dinner starting at 7:30 p.m. Dress is casual.

The DAS is collecting donations and asking for prize donations for the auction, pieces from crafters, or woodworkers that would like to donate any of their work. Tickets are on sale now and available at the DAS. All proceeds go to the shelter.

“You can pick them (tickets) up at the shelter, you can call us and we’ll deliver, or on Facebook there’s a way to purchase tickets,” said Gartland. “This is our biggest fundraiser of the year. It really helps us with our overhead and goes to caring for all these animals.”

According to Gartland, the event is usually sold out, so tickets should be purchased early.

“It’s super fun,” said Gartland.

The shelter is always in need of supplies to care for the animals. Besides financial assistance, its next greatest need is cat litter, cat and dog food – canned, paper towels, cleaning supplies, and bleach.

“The community is always so generous when we put out a request,” said Gartland. “The biggest need is always financial because of the medical we invest in every animal with the spay and neuter and vaccinations and medications. Other than that the next greatest need is cat litter, food – canned dog and cat food, paper towels, cleaning supplies, bleach.”

The DAS receives dog food every month from Mel’s Lawn and Garden and money from Elmer’s County Market through the public choosing to put a donation bag for the shelter on the belt when checking out.

“Five dollars goes into an account for the shelter after a bag gets scanned. We buy supplemental cat and dog food by the pallet. It’s much cheaper that way. So if you’re at Elmer’s, that’s a good way to help as well,” she said.

The DAS is a no kill shelter that takes in all animals and cares for them until they are satisfied the animal has found a forever home.

“This community really believes in our mission to save them all and we’re able to do so because the support the community gives this shelter,” Gartland said. “So again, if you’re able to adopt, please adopt, especially this time of year. Donate to help all the animals. A lot goes into making them ready for adoption and giving them that second chance. We always have fundraisers that are really extremely important to keeping this place up and running and providing what needs to be done for the animals.”

The Delta Animal Shelter is located at 6975 County 426 M.5 Rd., Escanaba. They can be reached at 906-789-0230, and deltaanimals@yahoo.com. Their website is deltaanimal.org, and Facebook page is named Delta Animal Shelter.

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