SPCA’s longest-waiting residents find loving homes

Between 6 – 21 September, standard adoption fees for long-stay animals were waived, as SPCA embarked on a mission to find the right homes for our longest staying animals.

While adoption fees are usually in place to go towards the cost of care for SPCA animals (including desexing surgery, microchipping, vaccinations, flea and worm treatment, and general care), the typical fees were removed to give long-stays the best possible chance of finding forever homes.

Over the past three weeks 105 long-stay animals have been adopted, and 20 more are on trial with their new homes or have an adoption pending.

“The campaign has been a real success,” says Dr Corey Regnerus-Kell, SPCA’s General Manager of Animal Services. “We’re so happy for these animals, who had waited weeks, months, and in some cases well over a year to be adopted.”

“Our teams followed our usual adoption processes to ensure that every animal went to a home that was right for them, even though fixed adoption fees were waived. Many adopters chose to give generously, and we’reso grateful for that.”

Gary was just one of the long-stays who found a home at last. He was first made available for adoption in August 2024, so was waiting over a year to meet his special people! We’re thrilled that his time finally came, after so long in our Timaru Centre.

There are still over 100 long-stay residents waiting for their turn – meet them all and apply online to arrange a meet-and-greet.