Although the Fayette Regional Humane Society’s (FRHS) volunteer program will remain suspended until further notice, the facility is opening back up to the public on Saturday.
In efforts to keep everyone safe, visitors to the facility are strongly encouraged to wear masks or face coverings even though they are not mandatory, according to FRHS Chief Humane Agent and Outreach Director Brad Adams.
There is also a portable hand washing station being kept at the FRHS front entrance, 153 S. Main St. in Washington C.H., where all visitors are required to wash their hands before entering the main animal care and adoption facility.
The low cost spay/neuter clinic, as well as the Trap, Neuter, Return (TNR) program, will resume as normal. As previously reported, program costs for dogs vary by weight. The cost for female cats is $65 while the cost for male cats is $45. They are sent home the same day the procedure is done.
According to Adams, adoption inquiries have increased during recent weeks.
“For the past month, adoption coordinators have worked from home via email to correspond with adopters to make appointments,” explained Adams. “Now that we are open to the public, people may choose to visit us during our normal hours of operation.”
Adoption inquiries haven’t been the only increase in service requests as FRHS has received nearly double the calls for humane agents compared to April of last year.
Adams suggested that part of the reason for increased calls could be that more people have been at home, meaning that more eyes could be watching for the welfare of animals. Of those calls, none of them have been to surrender animals due to COVID-19 complications.
Although adoption inquiries and calls for humane agents have gone up, donations to the facility have decreased.
“We have experienced a significant decrease in donations, which we expected but we want to remind people that we are still here helping animals and every donation dollar helps us to feed, care and provide them with any needed medical treatment,” explained Adams.
Monetary donations are preferred although other donations are accepted.
“Scoopable cat litter is like gold to us,” explained Adams. “That is probably one of the least items people think about donating, but it is one of the most important animal care supply items that we use — besides food of course.”
Donations can be made by dropping items off to the facility during open hours, by mail or by the FRHS website, www.fayetteregionalhumane.org/.
As FRHS reopens to the public, the facility will be open from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Mondays-Thursdays and on Saturdays, while closed on Fridays and Sundays.
