Sacramento SPCA announces hybrid services as shelter resumes in-person adoptions

The Sacramento SPCA has expanded its use of a hybrid system of pet adoption services to balance continued public interest in adoptions with health concerns from the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Adoption services will remain predominantly online at sspca.org, with prospective adopters invited to search for available animals and begin the application process online. Final paperwork and a meet-and-greet between animal and owner will be finalized in person at the SPCA shelter by appointment and under social distancing protocol.

“The demand for adoption has not changed. The way we go about it has,” said Dawn Foster, spokeswoman for the Sacramento SPCA.

Like local county shelters, the SPCA originally announced it would close most operations following Gov. Gavin Newsom’s statewide stay-at-home order. To do so, the SPCA sent nearly 300 animals into its foster care program, which places animals with families around the city. Only animals with health or behavioral concerns that prevented them foster home placement remained at the shelter, under the care of a limited amount of staff. At the same time, the SPCA also announced a near-complete halt to animal intake, a policy that is ongoing.

Now, as animals begin to return from their foster home stays, SPCA officials are looking to find them homes, Foster said.

Those looking to adopt can do so at the Sacramento SPCA’s adoption website.