Shelter offers Christmas elf delivery, holiday adoption fees

The Santa Fe animal shelter is offering free Christmas Eve delivery of dogs and cats – with elves this year, instead of Santa Claus – along with specially reduced adoption fees.

Santa Claus delivery has become an annual tradition at the shelter, where placing pre-adopted animals in elf-delivery16loving homes is a perk of the job, said Dylan Moore, the shelter’s director of adoptions. This year, however, Moore injured his foot and has handed over his deliveries to two elves – Dr. Jennifer Steketee, the shelter’s executive director, and Anne Stein, lead shelter technician.

The two plan to get in the Christmas spirit by delivering pets to adopters as a special treat. Potential adopters are welcome to pre-adopt the animals and the shelter will hold them until the Christmas Eve delivery. The adoptions must take place by 6 p.m. Friday; there is no cost for the delivery. The deliveries will take place between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Saturday.

“There’s no greater joy than bringing a new family member into a loving home,” Steketee said, adding that she and Stein, along with a driver are looking forward to fulfilling holiday dreams.

In hopes of making sure that everyone can have a furry friend in the family, the shelter also is offering a two-day adoption event at the shelter. On Friday and Saturday, the shelter is offering all adult animals at an adoption fee of $25. In addition, the shelter is waiving the adoption fee on all senior dogs 5 years and older and senior cats 9 years and older. The adoption fee for puppies, kittens and Shelter Heroes — highly sought or purebred animals — is 50 percent off.

In the past, some animal shelters have put up roadblocks to “pets as gifts,” and reduced adoption fees, Moore noted, but that notion has been changing nationwide. A recent survey by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals found that people who received pets as gifts or at a reduced adoption fee did not increase the risk of relinquishment.

Adopters still fill out a questionnaire to ensure that they get the best match for their family, he said. High-energy animals, for example, may not be suited for people with mobility issues, and allergies are always a concern, as well as rental contracts that forbid companion animals.

For more information about adopting an animal from the shelter for Christmas Eve, contact an adoption counselor at 983-4309, ext. 610.

The shelter is closed at 1 p.m. Saturday and all day Sunday for Christmas.