Fort Worth, Tx Animal Shelters Won’t Be at Mega Adoption Event

The Humane Society of North Texas is holding a massive pet adoption event at the Will Rogers Memorial Center Saturday and Sunday, but Fort Worth animal care and control shelters will not be participating.

The shelters canceled their Facebook event for the Humane Society of North Texas’ 6th Annual Mega Adoption Event, but a spokesperson for the society said the event is continuing.

Brandon Bennett, director of public health and code compliance for Fort Worth, said shelters in the city will not be participating in the event after lengthy discussions with human society over concerns about preventing the spread. distemper.

Because distemper cases have increased in the area, Bennett said the shelter has started giving dogs booster shots and testing them more regularly. But canine distemper tests may be positive for dogs that have recently been vaccinated or given a booster shot to protect against infection.

A group of volunteers from Fort Worth animal shelters and local dog rescue organizations that work with Fort Worth Animal Care and Control said animals from those shelters would not be attending the event because the shelters could not meet safety requirements for distemper infections. Bennett said it was because of false positives coming back from tests done on dogs that had recently received a recall.

Bennett said anyone who visits a Fort Worth animal shelter this weekend can walk away confident knowing that the animals they adopt won’t have distemper or other infectious diseases.

Adoptions this weekend are free, and Bennett said shelters will be staffed with additional staff to make the process of adopting an animal faster and smoother. All animals adopted from Fort Worth shelters receive 30 days of health insurance provided by the city.

This story was originally published June 8, 2022 7:51 p.m.