LIMITED OPERATIONS ADMID COVID-19 CONCERNS

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(UPDATE - Beginning 3/26/2020)

WELLNESS SERVICES & IN SHELTER VOLUNTEERING ARE SUSPENDED

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Monday, March 23, 2020

UPDATE amid COVID-19 concerns

With the number of confirmed cases of Coronavirus (“COVID-19”) still on the rise worldwide, it is important for us to update everyone as things change for Montgomery County Animal Services (“MCAS”). First and foremost, The World Small Animal Veterinary Association still states that there is no evidence that companion animals can be infected with or spread COVID-19. This is also the view of the World Health Organization. As this is a rapidly evolving situation, people with confirmed COVID-19 should, however, avoid contact with other people as well as pets.

Starting tomorrow March 24, 2020, MCAS will be altering its operations with regards to intake, adoptions, fostering and rescue in an effort to prevent the spread of the COVID-19.  The situation with COVID-19 is still very fluid and we will update as things change.

MCAS will be have its doors “closed” to the public but we will be able to facilitate adoptions, fostering and rescues. We will be moving to an appointment based system for these services. This will allow us to comply with gathering restrictions as well as help us keep our staff and citizens safe.

We need your help!

MCAS still has 274 animals onsite.  If you are able to help during this time we really need people to sign up as an emergency fosters to provide animals relief from the shelter environment or to adopt. Our goal is to greatly reduce the current animal inventory at MCAS by getting animals into foster homes, adopter homes or rescues during this closure.  We can accommodate adoption, foster or rescue within shelter, curbside, and delivery or try to accommodate whatever needs or request you may have to make it happen. 

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• FOSTER:

  • Individuals interested in fostering can do the following:
    Sign up for a foster appointment at https://app.waitwhile.com/book/mcasfostering

  • MCAS may be able to provide some supplies but encourage fosters to start planning ahead and gathering resources in anticipation of fostering a pet. With the influx we are running low on these supplies for fosters.

  • Foster’s Clinic times and days will remain the same. If you come to the foster clinic we ask that you stay in your vehicle or maintain social distancing outside of the facility and check into the wait list at https://app.waitwhile.com/welcome/mcasfoster . The wait list becomes available for sign in only during the  scheduled days and times. If you have any urgent needs please contact Foster.Coordinator@mctx.org

• RESCUE: 

  • Rescue organizations should contact to tag and arrange pulling of animals.

• ADOPT:

  • To adopt an animal people can go to https://app.waitwhile.com/book/mcasadoption to schedule a time. We will be doing fee waived adoptions to eliminate the handling of cash and credit card terminals during this time.

• VOLUNTEER:

  • Volunteers who are already volunteering with MCAS will still be able to volunteer. Please keep in contact with Volunteer.Coordinator@mctx.org as well as scheduling your volunteering time on your Better Impact portal. We will have to limit the number of volunteers on property at this time.

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Please note that if you come to the Shelter you may be required to answer some screening questions before being allowed to enter the Shelter

WELLNESS: The Wellness Center will still be operating as normal by appointment. We will be asking people to be diligent in practicing social distancing when they are at the facility. To book an appointment for wellness please visit, https://app.waitwhile.com/book/wellnessmcas

We also have featured pups on our live camera feed!

Check out the link to the live Furbo camera feed. In the times of quarantine and isolation we wanted to have another way to feature some pups that want a ticket out of the shelter! These pups are available today. As these pups are fostered or adopted out we will bring up more lucky pups for their live prime time debut.

If you are interested in fostering or adopting one of these pups you can reach out to us at shelter.counter@mctx.org and/or schedule an appointment to foster or adopt as indicated above.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWLQ8SIw7I4

Animal Control Services

Similar to many other animal shelters and animal control agencies, MCAS is not taking in any animals from the public that are brought to the facility. The community can facilitate getting lost animals back to their owner by taking these steps to reunite them with their family:

• Take the animal to any a veterinarian, emergency animal hospital or pet store to have the pet scanned for a microchip.

• Post the pet as found on sites like Nextdoor, Craigslist and Facebook Lost and Found groups, etc.

• Hang flyers where the pet was found, as most pets are found less than 1,000 feet from their home.

• Animal Control Officers (ACO) will still be responding to calls of service in the community based on priority level response, which consists of rabies quarantine/bite investigation calls, and aggressive and/or injured animal calls.

If a resident has lost their pet and believes the pet is at MCAS, please contact us by emailing Shelter.Counter@mctx.org to begin the process of reclaiming your pet.

With moving things to a more electronic approach there can be some technical difficulties. Should you experience any difficulties please just reach out to us, Shelter.Counter@mctx.org.

We greatly appreciate your patience during this difficult time.

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Thinking about surrendering your pet?