Local pet lovers looking to adopt will find puppies and kittens a little bit less expensive this week.
Orange County Animal Services Center has temporarily cut fees to encourage adoptions, and more than 30 pets have found homes since the event started March 23.
Events like this one — which ends April 14 — offer about 50 percent discounts for those seeking new pets, with the cost totaling $50 for cats and $60 for dogs. The shelter holds several per year.
All adoptions include a health examination, initial vaccinations and spaying or neutering.
In the first two months of 2012, the center saw between 30 and 45 percent of its animals adopted — but it also euthanized about 30 percent. Shelter leaders say the reduced-fee event is one method the shelter is using to find pets homes and drive those euthanization rates down.
And Jessica Allison, animal shelter manager, said it’s working.
“The number of animals adopted during events has been very encouraging,” Allison said.
Blue, a six-month-old Siamese cat, is a success story of the program. He was one of 101 cats adopted during Cat Adoption Month in 2011, a fee-discount event that saw a 20 percent increase in cat adoptions compared to the year before.
“I wondered why such a beautiful cat was given up,” said Debbie Crane, Blue’s owner.