Camden County’s Homeward Bound animal shelter is at full capacity and urgently seeking adopters

Camden County’s Homeward Bound animal shelter is overflowing and offering a special adoption rate to help free up room to help more animals in need.

Camden County Commissioner John Young said the shelter is hoping to place as many pets as it can this Fourth of July week.

“To make sure we keep our animal shelter nice and clear and keep our population down as much as possible,” Young said. “Sometimes it’s rough. [The number of] animals coming in starts getting a little high, so we know some people who might be on a fence about adopting a dog, we thought we would give some folks a break and see if we can stir some interest up to clear shelters a little bit.”

Dog and cat adoptions will be $7 through at least Sunday, July 7. Kittens are not included as part of the promotion.

Young said the reduced adoption fee won’t take a big bite out of residents’ wallets.

Homeward Bound is still seeing a number of pets who were adopted during the pandemic being surrendered by their owners, Young explained.

“It’s just a culmination of everything. People figure out their animals were too much to take care of, or they thought it was a good idea, but then they go back to work and now might not be able to take care of it so they surrender the dog again. So it’s been tough,” said Young. “But you know, we’re working our way through it.”

Young added an extra warning for pet parents this week.

“Keep in mind if you’re firing fireworks off that, animals have feelings too, and they get real jittery and nervous and crazy about this time of year with fireworks, so we’re just asking everybody just be mindful of that.”

Homeward Bound Adoption Center is open Tuesday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Friday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Further information

• How to help: Volunteer | Foster | Donate
• Animals available for adoption: Dogs | Cats
• Other resources: Pet owners in need | Pet surrenders