The Santa Barbara County animal services shelter in Santa Maria needs your help to reduce the number of pets in the shelter.
Highly needed repairs to the location are underway and will create significant challenges for animal care. These improvements are expected to last through mid-November.
Adoption and owner reclamation fees will be waived for all pets through the end of October at both the Santa Maria Animal Shelter and Santa Barbara Animal Shelter.
"We want to incentivize folks to come and pick up their lost pets," Sarah Aguilar, director of Santa Barbara County Animals Services Shelter told KSBY. "Or also to just foster which is temporarily housing a pet in their home so that they get a little bit of a break from the shelter."
Shelter officials say they need to reduce the number of pets in the shelter by at least 50%.
Additionally, the shelter is asking friends and neighbors to open their homes to foster a pet during construction. The shelter provides food, supplies and support to all foster families caring for pets.
Community members are invited to view pets available for foster or adoption on the shelter's website.
Shelters in Santa Maria and Santa Barbara are open for adoptions from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Saturday.
