RIVER NORTH — Chicago's Anti-Cruelty Society sees it all the time: Holiday shoppers peering in the shelter's windows in River North and falling in love with idea of adopting a pet as a present.
This month, the Anti-Cruelty Society at 157 W. Grand Ave. will make that even easier.
Anyone who adopts a dog or cat on Thursday or Friday — one that's been at the shelter for 60 days or more — will have all adoption fees waived, a savings of anywhere from $65 to $125. The promotion also applies to the society's South Loop shelter at Roosevelt Road and Canal Street.
The shelter is always "looking for a way to tap into people's emotions" at holiday time, said David Dinger, vice president of operations, but this year, he said, it has the money to back it up.
Thanks to special funding from the New York-based American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and automobile manufacturer Subaru, the society is able to offset the waived adoption fees.
Dinger said the animals being targeted for adoption aren't necessarily older pets, but ones that have just been "stuck" in the system, "the animals that get overlooked for any number of reasons."
The society did a similar two-day promotion in the summer when it won $25,000 in "Rachael Ray's Adoption Challenge." The society adopted out almost 500 pets more last summer than the summer before. Dinger said he was concerned that waiving adoption fees would make the animals seem less valuable, and more prone to eventually being given up.
But Dinger said that didn't happen.
"The reality was, we sent hundreds of them home ... and our return rate was actually lower then normal. We had far fewer issues and problems, post-adoption," he said. "While it's good to be wary of new things, we shouldn't let that stop us from trying new things."
Dinger hopes to adopt out about 100 cats and 20 to 30 dogs during the promotion, "fingers crossed."
And Dinger said he doesn't think it will be a hard sell"to get older pets out the door.
He said older animals tend to be adopted out more often than you might think, when compared to younger, "cuter" animals. People in the city might not want to deal with the hassle of training a younger pet.
"A lot of people will realize it's just easier if someone's already done all the work," he said.
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