- There are 949 dogs and puppies available for adoption in Riverside County.
- Riverside County-run shelters are located in Blythe, Jurupa Valley, San Jacinto, and Thousand Palms.
- New pet owners of spayed/neutered dogs will still need to pay licensing fees.
SAN JACINTO, CA — With nearly 1,000 dogs needing adoption, the Riverside County Department of Animal Services is asking for help fostering and adopting their pets. To do that, new pet owners can bring home a dog or puppy for under $25, according to that agency.
For one week, the agency will offer all canines—including puppies—free to take home without adoption fees in Riverside County to free up space at the county’s four shelters, all operating over capacity. Prospective pets are available for meet and greets at the Blythe Animal Shelter, San Jacinto Valley Animal Campus, Coachella Valley Animal Campus in Thousand Palms and Western Riverside County Animal Shelter in Jurupa Valley.
“With 949 total dogs in our care, it is urgent that we find homes for adoptions and foster,” Department of Animal Services Interim Director Dr. Kimberly Youngberg said. “As we move into spring, we are seeing more pets entering the shelter than we have resources to save, and that’s why we are asking for our communities’ help.”
Though all adoption fees are waived, new owners must pay basic license fees during the promotion, they said. License costs generally range from $12 to $25 for altered pets.
Youngberg said the current goal is to locate homes for at least 150 dogs. She said many of the impounded pets are likely runaways who simply got lost.
“We are working hard to reunite pets with the families that love them,” Youngberg said. “We are making 2025 the year that lost pets return home!”
In addition to outright adoptions, some sheltered animals are available to foster. That involves taking the dogs home and nurturing them in an environment where they can thrive outside of cages, officials said.
“The pets most in need of foster care are larger dogs, those with medical needs, and those with behavioral challenges,” according to the Department of Animal Services.
The agency is in the early stages of a reformation initiated last year by the county Board of Supervisors.
A lawsuit filed in August, spearheaded by Rancho Mirage-based Walter Clark Law Group, is seeking a permanent injunction against the Department of Animal Services’ euthanasia programs. Clark called it a “ground-breaking case” that’s predicated on the 1998 Hayden Act. That legislation, authored by then-state Sen. Tom Hayden, D-Santa Monica, states in part, “no adoptable animal should be euthanized if it can be adopted into a suitable home.”
One nonprofit organization has alleged the county has the highest pet “kill rate” in the nation.
In September, the board hired Austin, Texas-based Outcomes for Pets LLC Principal Adviser Kristen Hassen to rectify problems within the agency.
Earlier this month, the supervisors approved the Executive Office’s selection of Mary Martin to head the department following a nationwide executive recruitment drive. Martin, who is expected to take over in the next month, currently serves as assistant director for Dallas Animal Services of Texas.
She will fill the spot left vacant by the exit of Erin Gettis, who faced a barrage of criticism, almost going back to when she took the helm in 2021. Gettis is now an administrator at the Riverside University Medical Center in Moreno Valley.
More information about pets ready to be adopted is available at rcdas.org/adoptable-pets.
To report a lost or stray pet anywhere in the county, officials asked residents to use wwwpetcolovelost.org.
