At ‘crisis level’ capacity, Wisconsin Humane Society drops dog adoption fees temporarily

• The shelter is at crisis capacity due to a new walk-in surrender policy implemented June 1, leading to a significant increase in animals.
• The policy change aims to support families struggling with systemic issues like affordable housing, rising pet costs, and vet shortages.
• The Humane Society encourages fostering to create space and offers a “no time limit” promise for animals awaiting adoption.

Saying it’s at a “crisis level,” the Wisconsin Humane Society has temporarily lowered its adoption fees for dogs.

The fees, which typically range from $199 to $299, have been reduced to $75 through June 11. The fee for “benchwarmer” dogs, which have been at the Humane Society at least seven days, has been reduced to $25.

In a June 4 social media post, the Humane Society said, “The Wisconsin Humane Society is at crisis level, and we are in desperate need of dog adopters and canine foster parents. We have nearly 400 dogs in care across our organization and are drastically reducing adoption fees in hopes of finding as many great matches as possible.”

The shelter is at crisis capacity because of a policy that started June 1.

“We moved to a walk-in surrender model,” said Angela Speed, the Wisconsin Humane Society’s vice president of marketing & communications. “We used to require appointments, but we recognize that appointments for people needing to surrender their pets were booking months out.”

The policy also was implemented to support families in light of systemic issues that make pet ownership difficult, Speed said, including the lack of affordable housing that allows large dogs, rising costs of pet ownership and a national shortage of veterinarians.

As a result of the new policy, it’s caring for just under 400 dogs — about 100 more than in June 2024.

The Humane Society’s Milwaukee campus has started moving dogs to its other five Wisconsin locations but is quickly running out of space.

In addition to lowering the adoption fees, the Humane Society is encouraging people to foster dogs.

“We really use our foster network, when our shelters are full, to create more space for incoming animals in the shelter,” Speed said.

Dogs are fostered for a few reasons, she said. Some dogs need a shelter break for a day, while others need to be fostered for several weeks due to medical conditions or behavior observation.

Fostering is something that doesn’t require a lot of space, and Speed said there’s no such thing as a perfect foster home. There are people who foster while living in smaller apartments or with other animals in their house.

“There’s a type of animal for just about every situation, and of course, you get first dibs if you fall in love,” she said.

The promotion is meant to address the shelter’s current capacity, but Speed said there’s an option that will never be on the table.

“The Wisconsin animals in our adoption program have as long as it takes to find a new home,” Speed said. “We never euthanize for space or time, and that’s a promise we’ve kept for 26 years.”

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