Area Animal Shelters Announce Major Changes Due to Coronavirus

UPDATED JUNE 29, 2020

Several animal shelters in Western Washington have made drastic changes to their policies due to the outbreak of the Coronavirus.

Although the new policies vary from shelter to shelter, they do have some things in common:

1. The shelters are closed to the general public.
2. MANY SHELTERS ARE STILL ADOPTING OUT ANIMALS ON A LIMITED BASIS. Check each shelter for its specific policy.
3. Most shelters offer limited services like reuniting people with lost pets.
4. Most shelters are not accepting surrendered animals. If you need to surrender an animal, please keep it until the Coronavirus has passed.
5. Due to limited adoptions, most shelters are extremely crowded and need people to foster animals.

Also, area shelters are extremely crowded due to fewer pet adoptions during the Coronavirus crises. Adoptions at the Seattle Animal Shelter are down 50%.

If you are planning to adopt a dog, please consider doing it now when you’re spending more time at home.

Here’s the list of shelters and their new policies. I anticipate that the shelters will make changes to the policies during the Coronavirus crisis. I’ll include these changes as I learn about them.

Seattle Animal Shelter

Appointment-based Adoption System is HERE! 

Our counters are closed, but our adoptions are not! To keep our community safe and healthy, and to ensure our furry friends can still find their forever homes, animal adoptions are now temporarily available through a new appointment-based system. This will enable us to coordinate visits so that social distancing guidelines are strictly followed. This in accordance with the latest health recommendations and the Governor’s temporary Stay Home, Stay Safe guidance for essential businesses, which includes our shelter. Schedule an appointment and find your forever animal today!
www.seattle.gov/animal-shelter/find-an-animal/adopt

Update on Seattle Animal Shelter Services:

Pet licenses: Licenses can be purchased at www.seattle.gov/animal-shelter/license.

Lost pets: If you believe your lost pet is with us, please call us first at 206-386-PETS. We will work with you to determine if we have your pet and schedule a time for you to come in.

Found pets: Please do not show up at the shelter with a pet you have found. Call 206-386-PETS and we will assist you.

Animal Control: Officers are still on duty, so if you have an animal-related concern please call 206-386-PETS for further assistance.

Animal care: Rest assured, care of our animals is and will remain a priority for us. The animals at the shelter and in foster homes are continuing to receive our standard top-notch care. Our staff is still on site, and many animals have been moved to foster homes.

Adoptions: We are still accepting applications for animals. You will find instructions in each animal’s listing (and if not, please be patient–we’re working to get them all updated).

Volunteers: We do not need additional volunteers at this time. (Thank you to those who have offered!) Should a special need arise, we will let you know.

Thank you all for your patience and understanding. And, again, know that the animals are in great hands!

Regional Animal Shelter of King County

Our number one priority at RASKC continues to be focused on delivering our mission of “Helping People and Pets.” We are honored to be of continued service to our communities, both in person when needed as well as online. You can access many of our services from the comfort of home.

 Adoption Process

Due to COVID-19, our adoption process has changed. Adoptions of our animals from our Kent shelter have switched to an appointment-based system. To help keep people healthy, the governor’s directive recommends masks or cloth face coverings for everyone when going outside their home. We also ask that you limit the number of households or family members visiting us during your appointment. Please review the information below to find out more about how to adopt.

In Shelter Adoption Process

1. View listing of adoptable pets
2. Schedule your appointment
3. Meet and greet with shelter pets
4. Go home with your best friend!

1. View listing of adoptable foster pets
2. Complete foster interest form

Foster administration processIf after connecting with a foster parent you both feel that the pet is a good match for you, the adopter can go ahead and finalize the adoption by filling out the following forms and payment:

• a. Online Payment (Point and Pay)
• b. Adoption Contract (one per pet)
• c. Adoption Processing eForm

Please only fill out these forms after receiving confirmation from foster parents to proceed with adoption. Note that a prepayment will not guarantee adoption.

Seattle Humane Society

Seattle Humane is closed to the public until further notice to support community efforts to reduce the spread of infection. 

You can still adopt a pet by making an appointment.

Adoption by Appointment:

1. First, view all of our pet profiles and identify the available pet you wish to bring home.
2. Then fill out and submit one of the pre-adoption questionnaires below and include the name of the pet you wish to have join your family. A team member will go over the pet’s specific needs with you during an initial call, to see if you would be a good match.

• Dog Pre-Adoption Questionnaire 
• Cat Pre-Adoption Questionnaire
• Critter Pre-Adoption Questionnaire

If you are ready to proceed, you will have the option of placing a hold on that pet until an appointment can be set for an in-person meeting.*

Appointments at Seattle Humane will be conducted using current social distancing measures and cleaning protocols put in place to ensure the health and safety of our staff and adopters. You will receive information about these new guidelines prior to your appointment.

* Please note that appointment availability may be delayed due to current and evolving guidelines related to COVID-19.

* A fee is required to place a hold.

PAWS

Adoption by Appointment Only

While taking extreme precautions in dealing with the COVID-19 outbreak, PAWS is continuing to provide lifesaving care to cats, dogs and wild animals. We have many cats and dogs available at PAWS Companion Animal Shelter in Lynnwood and encourage adoption with some essential changes to the process for the safety of our community.

Effective immediately, PAWS is taking the following measures with the public in order to protect human health.

Cat And Dog Adoptions by Appointment Only – The PAWS Companion Animal Shelter in Lynnwood and PAWS Cat City in Seattle’s University District are open for adoptions by appointment only. If you see an animal online (cat and dog) you are interested in adopting, please complete an online adoption questionnaire for either a cat or dog. Once your adoption questionnaire is received, a staff member will call you to discuss next steps and schedule an appointment. 

Stray animals – PAWS will continue to accept stray animals from the eight jurisdictions we serve: Edmonds, Kenmore, Lake Forest Park, Mill Creek, Mountlake Terrace, Mukilteo, Shoreline and Woodinville. If you are looking for your lost animal, please check our website. If your missing pet is in our care, it will be on the website in a manner of minutes. Please call ahead to schedule an appointment to redeem your pet at 425.787.2500 x 800. 

Owner surrender – We will continue to accept owner relinquished pets on an appointment basis.  Please call 425.787.2500 x 801 or visit our website to learn more about the process.  

Low-income Spay/Neuter Clinic – PAWS is suspending all public spay/neuter surgeries until at least the end of April. Please check our website for updates.

Education moved online – All in-person classes are cancelled for your safety and that of our staff. In the meantime, our Education team has created PAWS Academy, a virtual learning library with activities and resources for learners of all ages.

PAWS is focused on the care and well-being of the animals, staff, volunteers and members of the public visiting our facilities in Lynnwood. The CDC and the World Health Organization have cautioned all of us to avoid unnecessary human contact and use social distancing in order to slow the spread of COVID-19. It is our civic duty to follow the advice of the experts who are familiar with the pattern of disease migration.

We thank you for your understanding and want to assure you that the animals at our facilities are receiving top-notch care during this particularly challenging time for our community.

Kitsap Humane Society

Due to COVID-19, KHS has switched to an appointment-based system for all adoptions, rather than allowing entry to the shelter for pet viewing. To view our available animals, please click “Available Pets.”

While we do our best to update the availability of our adoptable pets on these sites, we can’t guarantee that specific animals listed on our website will still be available by the time you visit our shelter. It can take up to four hours for the available pets listed here to update, so please revisit this page frequently.

Sometimes our pets are uploaded more quickly to Petfinder, so please try checking this link for the most up to date animals in our care.

Don’t see your perfect match? Check back frequently – new pets become available for adoption every day.

For information on our adoption process, please visit our How to Adopt page.

Please note, if you are interested in meeting an adult dog, you must email your adoption application to adoptions@kitsap-humane.org in order to be placed in line to meet the pet. Once more than 4 approved applications have been submitted, the dog will be removed from our Available Pets page.

Other animal types, such as kittens, cats, and small pets, require an appointment to be scheduled online through our Bookings page. Once more than 4 appointments have been scheduled for the same pet, that animal will be removed from our Available pets page.

Everett Animal Shelter

Shelter Operations Update

June 24, 2020. Everett Animal Shelter is committed to keeping our community safe. At this time, that means restricting general admission to our shelter, which will also help our staff and volunteers remain healthy to continue to care for our animals.

ADOPTIONS: We are currently conducting adoptions on an appointment only, case by case basis and are not allowing visitors for general animal viewing. If you are interested in adopting, first view our available animals online: https://everettwa.gov/161/Adopt-a-Pet. If you feel there is an animal that would be a good fit for your home, please fill out an application and email it to eas@everettwa.gov. A staff member will be in touch to discuss next steps. Applications can be found here: https://everettwa.gov/161/Adopt-a-Pet

STRAY/INJURED ANIMALS AND LOST & FOUND: If you have found a stray or injured animal, please call our main line at 425-257-6000 or file a found pet report online. If you think your lost pet may be at the shelter, please check the website and call 425-257-6000, our staff will return your call as soon as they are able. Please also check these Facebook groups: Lost Dogs of Snohomish County, Lost Cats of Snohomish County.

PET SURRENDER: At this time we are limiting our owner surrender pet intakes. If you have a pet you need to surrender, please call 425-257-6000. Our staff will return your call as soon as they are able. We are not able to accommodate private euthanasia requests at this time.

DONATIONS & WAYS TO HELP: We are still accepting donations and need community support now more than ever. To make a financial donation please visit our website: https://everettwa.gov/170/Donate. We are still in need of donated pet food but will not be allowing donations of supplies to be dropped off at the shelter. The best way to help the animals at this time is through online financial support. You may also order off our Amazon Wish List and it will be delivered safely to our door.

PET LICENSES: License purchases and renewals can be done online: https://everettwa.gov/2264/Pet-Licensing. If you have licensing questions please email us at petlicense@everettwa.gov or call us at 425-257-6000.

We appreciate your flexibility and understanding during this time and we assure you that our homeless animals are still receiving the same loving care as always. Thank you!

Humane Society for Tacoma and Pierce County

For the safety of our shelter staff and our community, we are asking shelter visitors to please wear a face mask.

As our community’s animal shelter, the Humane Society for Tacoma & Pierce County is open to the public for essential services only.

Our essential services include:

• Adoptions for those who are serious about adopting a pet
• Stray walkthroughs for those who are looking for their lost pet
• Stray intake for those who have found a lost pet
• End of life services

Beginning today (3/24/2020), we will have a dedicated shelter staff member at our front doors keeping a waitlist of contact information for those waiting to enter who meet the above-listed criteria. To continue practicing smart social distancing, around five members of the public will be allowed in at a time. For the safety of our staff as well as our community, we will continue to request that after checking in, visitors wait in their cars until we call them in.

To conserve medical resources as we brace for what might come, we are asking our community members to not bring in feral cats (also known as community cats) for spay/neuter procedures.

We will continue our efforts to move as many pets as we can into forever homes or foster homes throughout the coming days and weeks. We need your help to continue saving animals in need. Here’s how you can help:

• Same-Day Adoptions needed: The Humane Society for Tacoma & Pierce County currently has over 180 pets in its care, including pets who are adoptable, on stray hold, as well as those receiving medical treatment, and we must add enough capacity to continue serving as a lifeline for pets in our community. If you are ready to open your home to a shelter pet in need today, now is the time. View adoptable pets here. Please note, our adoptable pet pages update about every two hours.
• Fosters needed: The shelter is also looking for emergency fosters who can take home a pet if the Humane Society for Tacoma & Pierce County reaches critical capacity. The Society will need fosters for all types of pets but homes without other pets or children will be most needed. People can sign up to be a foster caregiver here.
• Friends needed: We need your help now, perhaps more than ever. That is why we are asking you to become a Friend for as little as $1 a day and help ensure the shelter continues to save the lives of animals in our community. Become a Friend today.

On behalf of our shelter staff, volunteers, and most importantly, the pets, we thank you for your continued support during these unprecedented times.

Joint Animal Services (Thurston County)

We know people are eager to return to a sense of normalcy in their lives with their pets – we are too. But we also recognize that if we rush to open, we could jeopardize the health of our staff and greater community. Although we’re prepared to be flexible, we want to avoid having to go backwards at any point, which could compromise the care of our shelter animals who have nowhere else to turn.

Staff will continue to be available by phone Tue-Fri 8-5:30 and Sat 8-4.  Beginning June 2^nd, 2020, Joint Animal Services will be open by appointment during our regular business hours: Tue-Fri 9:30-5:30 and Sat 9:30-4 for the following services:

• Adoption
• Licensing
• Stray Drop Off
• Reclaim
• Owner Surrender
• Owner Requested Euthanasia

Field Service Officers will address calls and complaints 7 days a week from 8:30am- 5:30pm.

To learn more about ways to donate, please go to https://jointanimalservices.org/donate/. Critical items can also be purchased directly from the Shelter’s Amazon Wish List and shipped directly to Animal Services. Please note that we are only able to accept unopened bags of food at this time.

Metro Animal Services

Starting the week of March 23, Metro Animal Services shelter will be closed to public visitors. Our officers will continue protecting the people and pets of Algona, Bonney Lake, Edgewood, Milton, Pacific, Puyallup and Sumner while safeguarding their health.

Please call us during our regular business hours at 253-299-PETS (7378) if you have animal-related complaints, questions or need to redeem your pet. If we don’t answer please leave a message a we will get back to you as soon at possible. **Masks are required for anyone coming into the shelter to redeem or adopt pets (by appointment only)**Remember, you can purchase new and renew existing pet licenses online at https://metroanimalservices.org/i-have-a-pet/license-my-pet/

Auburn Valley Humane Society

Homeward Pet Adoption Center

We are retaining and strengthening the safety measures we implemented before closing to the public in March. We are following all CDC-recommended practices on disinfection and cleaning of common and high-touch areas such as doorknobs.

Visitors to the shelter for adoption appointments also have the responsibility to wear appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) and maintain social distancing of 6 feet. For Homeward Pet, necessary PPE includes wearing a mask. In addition, all visitors will have their temperature checked with a no-touch, infrared thermometer. Any visitors with a fever over 99.9 will have their appointments rescheduled.

Homeward Pet will begin accepting applications for adoptions by appointment starting on Monday, June 15. Animals available for adoption will also be posted to our website by June 15, and our website will continue to be updated as new animals are made available. All in-person appointments to meet with a cat or dog will take place on a Saturday or Sunday.

For the safety of our staff, we will not be open to visitors stopping by “just to look” or anyone without an adoption appointment at this time. You must have made an appointment to visit our adoption center.

Read more about how adoptions by appointment will work.

We know this has been a tough few months for many. If you are considering rehoming your pet, please review our pet retention resources.

Sometimes situations are beyond your control. If you would like to rehome your pet, you have a few options:

Rehome through the Home To Home direct adoption program. This program is best suited for pet guardians who are able to keep their pet until finding an appropriate home. You’ll be able to set up a profile on Homeward Pet’s Home To Home site and meet with prospective adopters and decide what’s best for your pet.

More info about Home To Home.

Rehome through Homeward Pet. We are beginning to offer limited shelter intake based on extenuating circumstances. All shelter intake will be appointment based. Please note that we cannot accommodate requests for immediate or same-day appointments.

Please see this page for more information on rehoming through Homeward Pet.

We’re so grateful to our community for keeping our shelves stocked over the past few critical months. At this time, we will not be accepting any in-person donation drop-offs. Our retail partners at this page may be able to accept donations in their Homeward Pet donation barrels (please contact them to confirm they are open and accepting donations before dropping off!).

In addition, we’re happy to accept donations made online. Please see our Amazon wish list to see what we’re in need of most.

We are slowly and cautiously moving back into providing spay and neuter surgeries for households on a limited income. The program continues to change daily while we implement best practices. After July 8th, we will begin scheduling limited appointments.

Our Homeward Pet Food Bank continues to deliver free pet food to partner rescues and food banks. Please see this list of our partnersand contact them if you are in need of pet food.

We are currently unable to accept in-person drop off donations of food. We apologize for the inconvenience. Our retail partners at this page may be able to accept donations in their Homeward Pet donation barrels (please contact them to confirm they are open and accepting donations before dropping off!).

NOAH

The NOAH Center’s first priority is to ensure the safety of our staff, volunteers, and community.  In order to help reduce the spread of COVID-19, we are modifying our adoption process. Starting today, March 16th, we will be closing the Adoption Center to the public and moving to “appointment only” adoptions. If you are interested in adopting you will find all of our adoptable animals listed on our website. If you see a dog or cat you feel you would like to adopt, please call 360-629-7055 to schedule an appointment with a Matchmaker.

Humane Society of Jefferson County

HSJC’s response to the COVID19 pandemic:

1) We are now asking that you do not come to the shelter to buy a license. Please buy online or through the mail. If you need to bring in an animal please make an appointment 360-385-3292.

Our staff and volunteers are dedicated, as ever, to caring for the animals at the shelter and being there for our community animals.

2) We have, of course, stepped up our usual cleaning routines and are disinfecting counters, door handles and other frequently handled surfaces several times a day. Employees and volunteers are encouraged to stay home if they are feeling unwell.

3) How can you help? Please do your best to STAY HOME.

A) We are discouraging visitors to the shelter. Now is not the time to stop by to pet cats or browse dogs.

B) Much of our business can be done remotely. Need to license your dog? You can do this online via our website and your tags and receipt will be mailed to you! https://www.hsjcwa.org/license-your-dog

Want to know what animals are at HSJC looking for homes? You can view adoptable animals on our website too, and clicking on their pictures will take you to their Petfinder listing, with more pics and details! https://www.hsjcwa.org/adoptapet
If you’re interested in an adoptable animal, please call or email the shelter.

4) If we can limit visitors to the shelter to only persons turning in strays or surrendering their animals, or persons who have communicated with staff regarding an adoptable animal, our ultimate goal of sanitizing door handles and surfaces between visitors – ultimately keeping us all safer – will be achievable, even for our little shelter with few staff members.

Thank you all! Let’s do our part to keep each other safe!

Yakima Humane Society

Yakima humane society is closed to the public but are doing adoptions and As COVID-19 continues to grip Yakima County, we will continue to operate on an appointment only basis. We ask for your continued patience during these difficult times as our limited staff is working hard to attend to everyone’s needs. Thank you for your understanding.