Adoption fees waived at Massachusetts shelters until April 27

BERKSHIRE COUNTY, Mass. (NEWS10)-- Shelters around Massachusetts and Berkshire County will be waiving adoption fees until Sunday, April 27. According to the MSPCA-Angell, dogs aged one and older will be available for adoption through the Big Dog Energy Event.

The event will be held across the state as shelters reach capacity and adoption rates slow down.

"We’ve been saying for a long time that adoptions of larger dogs have slowed down over the past couple of years, and it’s causing a capacity problem for us and many other shelters, including those in the coalition," explained Project Manager of the MSPCA-Angell’s Animal Protection Division, Jamie Garabedian.

The four MSPCA-Angell adoption centers will be participating in the event as well as Lowell Humane Society and MASS coalition partners Berkshire Humane Society, Worcester Animal Rescue League, Boston Animal Control, Dakin Humane Society, and Thomas J. O'Connor Animal Control & Adoption Center.

According to Garabedian, shelters are also seeing an increase in local dog intake, including strays, seizures and surrenders related to law enforcement cases. The event hopes to rehome at least 100 dogs.

"Since the start of the coalition last July, we’ve adopted out more than 500 dogs during these collaborative fee-waived events, which is really great, but we still need help," Garabedian said.

According to the shelter, hours of the events vary by location. For more information, visit the mspca.org/dogs website.