BRUNSWICK — Sitting on the floor at Midcoast Humane and being swarmed by a pack of fuzzy felines is enough to brighten almost anyone’s day.

Trendy Stanchfield enjoyed doing just that Oct. 11, taking time out from her duties as the shelter’s executive director to commune with some of its newest residents.

The 20 cats were rendered homeless when Hurricane Florence struck the Carolinas last month. To make room for those and other cats and dogs, Midcoast Humane’s shelters in Brunswick and Edgecomb are halving adoption prices on animals one year or older throughout October.

The initiative is dubbed “Fall in Love,” a nod to the emotion and the season alike. October also happens to be Adopt a Shelter Dog Month.

“We generally don’t have issues with kittens and puppies (being adopted); they fly off,” Stanchfield said. “Sometimes the older guys sit around a little bit longer, and so (we’re) trying to make room so we can help out where we can with Florence and other local surrenders.”

The shelter, which contracts with 40 communities from Falmouth to Washington, is at full capacity at more than 200 animals – guinea pigs and rabbits, too – but wanted to help when it got the call about the refugee animals.

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“We’re doing what we can,” Stanchfield said. “… We’ve said yes, we’re available; yes, we’ll make room. And so we’re trying to be proactive and make room.”

Adoption fees for cats and dogs – which include spaying, neutering and vaccinations – are normally $85 for cats one year and older, and $245 for dogs of that age. For October, those figures are cut in half. Prices also decrease for older animals under the variable pricing policy used by the shelter.

Adoptable animals at Midcoast Humane’s two shelters can be seen at midcoasthumane.org. Call the Brunswick location at 725-5051, or the Edgecomb site at 882-9677, for more information.

Midcoast Humane is the result of a merger in recent years between the Coastal Humane Society and Lincoln County Animal Shelter.

“We really are a new organization,” Stanchfield said, noting a desire to be community partners. Adoptions are one means of doing that, “but there are lots of ways we can be helpful in our community.”

Alex Lear can be reached at 780-9085 or alear@theforecaster.net. Follow him on Twitter: @learics.

Trendy Stanchfield, executive director of Midcoast Humane in Brunswick, on Oct. 11 plays with kittens displaced by Hurricane Florence. The shelter is cutting adoption prices for animals 1 year old and older in order to make room for more refugee cats and dogs.


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