Salem Shelter Discounts Dog Adoptions After Fitchburg Puppy Surrender

SALEM, MA — The Northeast Animal Shelter of Salem and MSPCA-Angell are reducing the adoption fees for adult dogs as they look to clear out room at the shelters following the surrender last week of 16 American Bully terriers from a home in Fitchburg and ahead of another big arrival of rescue dogs from South Carolina.

For the month of December, dogs one year and older will be available for $100—a savings of at least $250 that could be put toward the care of the dog — as part of the "Home for the Holidays" adoption event.

Last week, the Northeast Animal Shelter took in 16 dogs — mostly puppies — from a single owner in Fitchburg.

"The dogs were living in less-than-ideal conditions, and the owner realized that the situation was unstable and opted to surrender the dogs to our care," MSPCA-Angell Director of Adoption Centers and Programs Mike Keiley said.

Fitchburg Animal Control also took in three adult dogs from the same home.

"It's possible we will also receive those adult dogs in the coming days," Keiley added.

This comes as the shelters were looking to bring in 15 to 20 more large dogs from an overcapacity animal shelter in South Carolina on Friday.

"Larger dogs can be harder to place because many adopters worry they require more space and more exercise than smaller dogs, and while that's true for some larger dogs, it definitely is not the case for many," Kieley said.

MSPCA shelter officials say they're quickly running out of space due to the large population of dogs waiting for adoption.

"Our goal is to adopt out as many of these dogs locally as we can to ensure our ability to continue providing on-the-ground support to Berkeley Animal Center (in South Carolina), a shelter that we have been mentoring over the last year to ensure staff can ultimately resolve the homeless pet population across the communities they serve," Keiley said.

More information about the reduced-feed adoption campaign can be found here.

Those looking to adopt one of the Fitchburg Bully puppies can visit here.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)