Vernon raises animal shelter adoption fees

By Mike Zummo

The Vernon Township Council on Monday voted unanimously to raise the adoption fees for dogs and cats from the Township Animal Shelter.

The increase was requested by township police, who operate the shelter and Chief Dan Young said they have exhausted donated funds and their previous prices were significantly lower than other shelters in Sussex and Morris counties

“Since we’ve taken it over, we’ve basically become a no-kill shelter, where we adopt every pet with the exception of a few where there are issues with the pet where we can’t adopt them,” Young said. “We’re very proud of that.”

Shelter workers make sure the animals are neutered and spayed and get all necessary shots before adopting them and has been taking a loss. Young said they’ve reached a tipping point and if they don’t increase the adoption fees, they will have to stop spaying and neutering the cats and dogs.

“A lot of other adoption agencies don’t care to do that,” township Business Administrator Charles Voelker said. “We’re trying to be as progressive as possible in caring for these animals at the lowest cost possible.”

The work done by the shelter has also helped decrease the number of cat colonies throughout the township and they’ve been contracted by Franklin Borough to provide services there.

Mayor Howard Burrell said Franklin Business Administrator Deborah Bonanno contacted him about it.

“She contacted me because of how we turned around. That shelter has a very good reputation and they’re saving a lot of animals and they just can’t continue to do this because fees are not high enough.”

Young said the Police Dept. is proud of how it has turned the Animal Shelter around originally several township residents objected to the price increase, saying it would send people elsewhere to adopt animals. However, Young said an analysis done by the department showed Vernon’s prices were below average.

“We’ve had exceptional adoption of all our cats and dogs,” Young said. “We’re really proud of what we’ve done. We think with the higher adoption fees, we will be able to continue the momentum.”