Tuesday June 9, 2009

Teachers and school employees have a chance to start their summer vacations with new “teachers’ pets” from Metro Animal Services. For the month of June, employees of local schools, universities, and colleges will receive a 25 percent discount on adoption fees for any animal at Metro Animal Services.

Animals adopted from MAS come with a complete adoption package that includes spaying or neutering, vaccinations, a microchip, license (four months and older) and $100 in coupons for Feeders Supply. School employees must provide a current school ID or pay stub to receive the discount.

“The beginning of summer is a great time for a teacher’s family to adopt a new pet,” said Jessica Durbin, public education coordinator at Metro Animal Services. “Our shelter is bursting with a serious overpopulation of cats, kittens, and puppies at this time of year. Our goal is to find loving homes for these animals, and we believe teachers are some of our best ambassadors in showing our community how to take responsibility for animals by adopting from a shelter.”

“Our ‘Pets for Educators Month’ is our way of saying thank you to the teachers in our community who understand the importance of animals in the lives of children,” said Jackie Gulbe, assistant director for community relations. “Teachers have shown our shelter support in many ways -- from adopting pets to welcoming our humane educator in to the classrooms. This promotion is just our way of thanking them for their hard work.”

MAS regularly places small animals such as guinea pigs and rabbits in approved classrooms as assistants in teaching responsible care, kindness, and pro-social behavior. Adoption fees for these animals are waived as long as the teacher has permission from the administrator and agrees to a classroom visit from our humane educator, Jessica Durbin. Ms. Durbin will introduce the classroom resident pet with a workshop for the class on responsible pet care. Small animals are never released for invasive or experimental teaching in science classrooms, and teachers are permanent owners of the new pets.