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ORANGE COUNTY <br />BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS <br />ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT <br />Meeting Date: May 17, 2011 <br />Action Agenda <br />Item No. ,'~~_ <br />SUBJECT: Special Fee for Select Cat Adoptions during Adopt a Shelter Cat Month (June) <br />DEPARTMENT: Animal Services PUBLIC HEARING: (Y/N) No <br />ATTACHMENT(S): <br />Average Daily Inventory - 2010 <br />INFORMATION CONTACT: <br />Bob Marotto, 968-2287 <br />PURPOSE: To approve an adjustment to the standard adoption fees for select cats and kittens <br />to $50 as part of Animal Services participation in National Adopt a Shelter Cat Month this June. <br />BACKGROUND: June is Adopt a Shelter Cat Month. This annual event is sponsored by the <br />American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) to increase the adoption of <br />cats and decrease euthanasia in community animal shelters around the country. <br />This event is held in June because it is the month during which the number of shelter felines <br />sky-rockets. Orange County is no exception to this general pattern as detailed in the attached <br />graphic (Average Daily Inventory- 2010). Whereas 'spring is generally regarded as the onset of <br />"kitten season", it is during the months of summer and fall that animal shelters are stretched to <br />their limit with the intake of cats, among other animals. <br />Animal Services staff is seeking to create an incentive for the adoption of certain cats by <br />reducing the adoption fee to $50 for the month of June. This is approximately half of the regular <br />adoption fee for cats ($96) and somewhat less than half of the regular adoption fee for kittens <br />($85). <br />Animal Shelter management will select individual cats to be available for adoption for $50 on <br />the basis of specific criteria. These criteria will include age as cats six (6) months of age or <br />older will qualify for the special fee. The criteria will also include length of stay as cats that have <br />been at the shelter .for three (3) weeks or longer will also qualify. In addition, a "highly <br />adoptable" cat may be selected for the special fee on a weekly basis (depending on shelter <br />population and animal flow), and to the extent possible, featured in public outreach. <br />This kind of approach to encourage and increase adoptions has become more common in the <br />field of animal sheltering in recent years. Some non-profit organizations in the nearby area <br />