Henderson’s Clear the Shelters animal adoptions is this weekend

If you’re looking for a furry friend, Henderson’s animal shelter is planning an event this month with potential pets and discounted adoption fees.

The Henderson Animal Care and Control Facility will participate in a nationwide Clear the Shelters adoption drive Aug. 17-18.

Summer is a busy season for the Henderson animal shelter because people sometimes surrender their pets when they move or go on a long vacation, said Danielle Harney, Henderson’s acting animal control administrator. The third annual Clear the Shelters event is aimed at finding long-term homes for as many animals as possible.

“The goal, obviously, is to get every adoptable pet out of the door and into a home,” Harney said.

The Henderson animal shelter wants to adopt out 150 pets during this year’s Clear the Shelters. In addition to cats and dogs, the shelter has rabbits and guinea pigs available for adoption. At last year’s event, 134 pets — 68 dogs, 56 cats, five rabbits, three birds and two guinea pigs — were adopted.

Henderson resident Elenna Loredana and her husband went to the Clear the Shelters event last year to look for a small dog. Elsa caught their eye.

They took her for a walk but thought she was too big, Loredana wrote as part of a July 29 email interview with the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Loredana suggested they keep looking, she said, but got emotional when she saw Elsa back in her cage. They adopted her.

Loredana said she appreciates how the shelter spayed Elsa and did vaccinations. And she said she couldn’t be happier with her dog. She created an Instagram account under the name Elsa Norrrr to document her dog’s new life.

Loredana had a DNA test done on Elsa — who’s now 4 years old — and discovered she’s 63 percent American Staffordshire terrier, 25 percent German shepherd and 12 percent unknown sporting breed.

It was a rough start after bringing Elsa home, Loredana wrote, because she had been abandoned twice and would cry and howl when she was left alone.

“It took about 4 months for her to come around and feel like this is her home,” Loredana wrote.

Now, Elsa can stay at home for hours by herself without an issue. Loredana said it’s important to exercise time and patience when adopting a pet.

What to expect at Clear the Shelters

The Henderson animal shelter will post updates on its Facebook and Instagram pages about how many pets have been adopted and which ones are still available.

“A lot of times when we do these adoption events, the little dogs are the first to get adopted,” Harney said.

During Clear the Shelters, potential adopters will be assigned a volunteer to help them through the process. Volunteers will get to know what each person is looking for, such as the age and energy level in a pet.

The shelter has approximately 80 volunteers throughout the year — not just for Clear the Shelters.

“If we didn’t have such awesome people, there’s no way we could do these kinds of events,” Harney said.

About Henderson’s animal shelter

Henderson’s animal shelter — which has 15 full-time and three part-time employees — has been in its current building on East Galleria Drive for about 25 years.

The shelter can house about 200 animals. On any given day, there typically are 30-40 cats and 30-60 dogs available for adoption.

The shelter tries to return lost animals to their owners, Harney said, but “a lot of people don’t reclaim animals.”

It’s also an open admissions shelter, meaning it doesn’t turn away animals surrendered by Henderson residents. Lost pets are kept for three days before they’re put up for adoption.

Contact Julie Wootton-Greener at jgreener@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2921. Follow @julieswootton on Twitter.

Clear the Shelters

The Henderson Animal Care and Control Facility’s event is set for 7 a.m.-5 p.m. Aug. 17-18 at 300 E. Galleria Drive in Henderson. Adoptions end at 4:30 p.m.

Rabbits and cats can also be adopted at two off-site adoption centers at PetSmart: 286 W. Lake Mead Parkway and 531 N. Stephanie St.

Cat, dog and rabbit adoptions will be half price, with an additional 50 percent discount for Henderson residents. Here are the adoption fees:

Cats/kittens: $40 for nonresidents and $20 for Henderson residents

Dogs/puppies: $45 for nonresidents and $22.50 for Henderson residents

Rabbits: $17.50 for nonresidents and $8.75 for Henderson residents

Adoption fees include routine vaccines, spay or neuter surgery (if not already done), microchip and registration, and rabies tag or Henderson license (depending on where you live).

If you want to bring your current dog to the shelter to introduce to a potential new adopt, you must provide proof of vaccines and the dog must be spayed or neutered.

For more information, call 702-267-4970 or visit cityofhenderson.com/animal-control/events.