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By JOYANNA LOVE/ Senior Staff Writer

The Chilton County Humane Society is offering an adoption special due to overcrowding at the animal shelter.

“We are at capacity and over,” Humane Society president Katherine Reece said.

The special adoption pricing will begin on June 10 and will be available as long as funding makes it possible.

“Our normal adoption price [for dogs] is $125, and we are dropping it to $50,” Reece said.

This will be for dogs that are six months old and older.

The adoption price for a cat will be a 25-pound bag of non-clumping cat litter.

A partnership the Alabama Spay/Neuter Clinic has helped make the adoption special possible.

“If we put $1 in to our fund there, they have an anonymous donor that will match it,” Reece said.

This arrangement essentially allows the shelter to spay/ neuter two animals for the price of one. Animals will be spay/neutered after they are adopted, but before they are released to their new owners. Reece said this means it will be a few days to a week before residents could take a cat or dog home with them.

All animals will be current on their vaccinations (including rabies shots for dogs), micro-chipped, spay/neutered and dewormed.

An application for adoption will still be required and can be filled out at http://www.chiltoncountyhumanesociety.org/ or in person at the animal shelter.

“We do not want to euthanize for space,” Reece said.

She said this is not the shelter’s current practice and the intent is for it never to become the norm.

Reece said adoption specials like this one help keep that from happening. Animals are only euthanized at the shelter if they are aggressive or extremely sick.

The Humane Society has sold about 1,500 spay/neuter vouchers, which allows them to get the procedure done at a discounted rate in an effort to limit the number of unwanted pets in the county. The certificates are $20 and are available at the shelter. For more information, contact the shelter at 755-9170.

The shelter is located at 139 Shade Tree Drive in Clanton, and is open 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday as well as Saturday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.