Humane Society of Imperial County launches Sheptember campaign
With the shelter being impacted, they are raising awareness by lowering the adoption costs for German Shepherds and Shepherd mixed breeds
IMPERIAL COUNTY, Calif. (KYMA, KECY) - The Humane Society of Imperial County kicked off this month with the Sheptember Campaign to honor German Shepherds and Shepherd mixed breeds.
For the entire month of September, the shelter is lowering adoption fees to only $20 for German Shepherd mixes. Standard adoption procedures, protocol and benefits still apply.
Devon Apodaca, the Humane Society of Imperial County Executive Director, says they currently have about 20 German Shepherd breeds in their shelter and wants them to find their forever home.
Apodaca adds, to make this special adoption campaign even better, they are teaming up with their local dog training expert, Mike Burk who has offered to discount his basic training course by $100 to any German Shepherds. The course consists of a three consecutive month, in-home training that meets once a week.
Apodaca says German Shepherds make up majority of the population in shelters in Southern California and hopes this campaign will bring awareness and prevent euthanization.
"The goal of Shepherd September is to educate the community about the breed and how loyal and loving they are. I think a lot of community members believe that German Shepherds are just really good for cheap alarm systems and the breed is so much more than that," explains Apodaca. "These animals are extremely intelligent. They're trained to do a number of things from being police dogs, you know riding canine units, what have you, to going overseas and fighting in wars alongside our soldiers, leading the blind, becoming therapy dogs. This breed has been bred to do so much more then just being a guard dog."
According to Apodaca, the shelter is way over capacity holding about 200 animals when it's made to hold 80.
"We have one kennel that I think that has nine or 10 dogs in it. The shelter right now, it's not an ideal situation the way the animals are being housed," continue Apodaca. "It's very overcrowded, it's uncomfortable and it's stressful for the animals."
The staff of the Humane Society is aware of the severity of the living conditions. They also started a Capital Campaign to renovate the kennels and create more space to help alleviate the overcrowding and so the animals can stay in a more comfortable and climate controlled environment.
Apodaca says it's definitely a community effort and is looking for donors for the Capital Campaign. If there are any community members or businesses that would like to help the animals and donate, you can contact the Humane Society at the email listed below.
He also wants to remind the community dropping off your animals because you don't want them anymore is unacceptable.
"During this Labor Day weekend, if anybody is going out of town, they're traveling and can't take their pets with them, please remember that turning your animals into a shelter, animal control or rescue isn't really the appropriate way to go about it," says Apodaca.
He suggests to find a friend or family member, someone that you trust to go to your home to check on your pet regularly and if you don't have anyone, there are pet boarding services available in the Imperial Valley such as Desert Veterinarian Group and Buddy Sweets.
If you're interested in adopting, you can go here. Click the Pet Search tab, then click links to view the animals. You can also email hello@imperialcountyhumane.org for more information.
