If you’re looking for something to get you in the holiday spirit over the weekend then the Kingston Humane Society may be just the place to visit.
This Sunday is the annual ‘Homes for the Holidays’ event, an open house and annual pet adoption fundraiser — this is the first day in a month-long campaign to find forever homes for the agency’s furry residents.
Christie Haaima, the shelter’s population manager, tells us they have a surplus of cats. “Our hope is that we’re going to get lots of cats and kittens homes for the holidays.”
A real stand-out is Sprout, a nine-week-old, short-haired orange tabby. He came to the shelter with his sibling as a stray with no vaccines or veterinarian history.
“He spent a little bit of time in our foster care program, so now he’s happy and healthy and ready to find his forever home,” Haaima says.
Along with the ability to adopt a new pet, there are many things planned for Sunday, including a behind the scenes look at the animal shelter.
“We’ll have insider tours,” she adds. “We’ll take members of the public throughout the back into our intake area to sort of show them exactly what we do and how we operate here at the shelter.”
In the month that follow the Homes for the Holidays event, the humane society will be offering animal adoptions at reduced rates.
The Kingston Humane Society does warns that pets usually don’t make good gifts for unsuspecting recipients, but if the whole family is in agreement then the holiday season is a perfect time to add a furry family member to the household.
“With adopters being off work and kids at home from school it’s a great time to be able to get an animal integrated into the home,” Haaima explains.
If you don’t want to adopt, there are other ways to support the humane society this Sunday. The Kingston Photographic Club will be on hand to snap a picture of your pet, for a small donation.
And, until Dec. 24, you can buy a Christmas tree or wreath from the humane society and $10 from each purchase will go to support the shelter.
The Homes for the Holidays event runs from from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sunday at the Kingston Humane Society shelter, however, the reduced adoption rates run until Dec. 31.