Maricopa County Animal Care and Control announces new improvements to further protect the health and safety of its staff and customers yet still provide help for the community’s vulnerable population – our dogs and cats.
On Monday, March 23, the shelter will start adoptions and foster placements by appointment only. These precautions are based on CDC recommendations, which include social distancing, cleanliness guidelines and limiting the number of people in areas to 10 or fewer.
The shelter is asking people to keep at least 6 feet between staff and visitors and to use sanitizers, wipes and gloves. It’s the shelter’s goal to reduce wait times and increase safety by instituting an appointment-only system. Here’s how it works:
- You must sign up at sign up
- Get paired with an Adoption Counselor at your appointment time *
- Meet the pet of your dream
- Complete the adoption paperwork
- Go home with your new best friend!
* If an Adoption Counselor is occupied with a previous appointment trying to make a forever match, we’ll take down your information, add you to a waitlist and contact you when a team member is available. We encourage you to research and bring a list of the pets you are interested in, but you will be limited to meeting two animals per appointment.
Please browse adoptable pets at adopt and write down their ID number (A number). Please note there may still be extended wait times while we all work hard together to ensure the safety of all staff, volunteers, visitors, and the animals in our care while we try to find each dog or cat their new forever home.
All these efforts are intended to help prevent workplace exposure to COVID-19 and save animal lives by reducing the shelter’s overall animal population. These temporary measures also prepare the shelters for possible widespread community outbreaks of the virus if this continues to grow.
The shelter’s hours adoption hours are 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and 11 a.m. to 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. As always, donations and support are greatly appreciated. Please visit donate for more information.