| February 8th, 2018

Animal Adoption in Tallahassee

By: journeymagazine

By | Carly Watson

The Tallahassee Animal Service Center is working hard to deal with the issue of abandoned animals around the city. At the Tallahassee Animal Service Center over 6,000 animals are abandoned each year. Of those animals, nearly 50 percent are adopted while around 40 percent are euthanized. Assistant Director at the TASC, Michael St. John said that this is a problem in Tallahassee and that most animals brought in are surrendered.

“When people come in to surrender animals, the first question that we ask is ‘Is there anything that we can do to help you keep your pet in your home rather than dropping them off here at the shelter?’ and often times they simply just need a short term fix,” said St. John.

St. John continued saying that often time the owners just need help feeding their pets or boarding them during a move when they come to surrender their animals.

Over 1,500 of the animals at the shelter were euthanized in 2016. The animals in Tallahassee Animal Service Center are often euthanized for age, if there is a behavior or medical problem, or if the shelter does not have space. This drove Tallahassee Local, Adrianna Parish, 20, to choose to adopt over buying.

“Adopting dogs from shelters is for a good cause. Most of them are rescue dogs, so adopting them gives them a second chance,” said Parrish.

Of the animals adopted the center makes sure they are spayed or neutered before leaving. They also offer clinics for locals to bring their pets for $5 rabies shots and $10 microchipping the first Tuesday of each month. The center says around 1000 people come each time. With offers such as these, it makes adoption easy for college students that do not always have the necessary means to pay a breeder or extensive vet bills.

“Adopting through TASC is great. Not only does the center go out of their way to make sure the animal is going to a safe home. They also offer medical attention and call college students’ landlords to make sure the tentant adopting is allowed to have the animal, so the cat or dog, hopefully, won’t have to return to the shelter,” said FAMU Music Industry Senior, Patrick Bentley.

Bentley also supports the “Adopt Don’t Shop” Movement saying, “People should adopt and not support breeders. We need to take care of the homeless animals in our community first.”

With the efforts made by the Animal Service Center, the city of Tallahassee hopes to see a decrease in the number of abandoned animals in the area.