{"id":372895,"date":"2026-08-16T09:58:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-16T09:58:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/372895\/"},"modified":"2026-08-16T09:58:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-16T09:58:14","slug":"lee-county-waives-pet-adoption-fees-saturday-for-clear-the-shelters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/372895\/","title":{"rendered":"Lee County waives pet adoption fees Saturday for Clear the Shelters"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lee County waives pet adoption fees Saturday for Clear the Shelters<\/p>\n

Lee County residents looking to add a four-legged member to the family can adopt one for free Saturday as part of the 2026 Clear the Shelters campaign.<\/p>\n

\"Natacha<\/a>FORT MYERS, Fla. \u2014<\/p>\n

Lee County Domestic Animal Services waived adoption fees Saturday as part of its annual Clear the Shelters event, giving residents the opportunity to adopt dogs and cats for free. <\/p>\n

\u201cClear the Shelters is one of our favorite events of the year because it shines a spotlight on the incredible pets waiting for homes,\u201d said Pablo Adorno, director of Lee County Domestic Animal Services. \u201cEvery adoption changes a pet’s life while creating space for another animal in need. We encourage the community to visit the shelter this August \u2014 you may just meet your new best friend.\u201d <\/p>\n

The shelter, located at 5600 Banner Drive in Fort Myers, saw long lines early Saturday morning. \u201cWhen I pulled in this morning, there was already people at the door and I got here at six,\u201d said Karen Hoel of Lee County Domestic Animal Services. <\/p>\n

This is the fifth year the shelter has hosted the Clear the Shelters event.<\/p>\n

Hoel said the goal is to clear the adoption floor to make room for more animals. \u201cWe’re going to clear our adoption floor. So then come Monday we can move more out. Available for adoption next week,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

The event featured dogs and cats of all ages, breeds, and sizes. Every adopted pet was spayed or neutered, vaccinated, microchipped, and came with a Lee County license and a 10-day health check \u2014 services valued at nearly $600. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt is very important to microchip your pet if no one hears anything else I’m saying right now. Microchip your pets. It is essential and information up to date. All the pets leaving here obviously are microchipped,\u201d Hoel said. <\/p>\n

Hoel emphasized the importance of giving these animals a second chance. \u201cYou know, they come in and sometimes not from a good situation. So we want them to go out to a good situation. That is our goal with every pet that comes in the door,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

While Saturday\u2019s event waived all adoption fees, the Clear the Shelters campaign continues through Aug. 31 with reduced fees of $40 for dogs and $20 for cats with an approved application. <\/p>\n

Lee County Domestic Animal Services is joining more than 1,600 shelters and rescue groups nationwide in this year\u2019s Clear the Shelters campaign. <\/p>\n

Adoptions take place at Lee County Domestic Animal Services at 5600 Banner Drive in Fort Myers. Adoption hours are 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday.<\/p>\n

Applications can be completed online at by clicking here<\/a>, printed and brought or faxed to the shelter, or completed in person.<\/p>\n

Available animals can be viewed at LeeLostPets.com.<\/a><\/p>\n

DOWNLOAD\u202fthe free\u202fGulf Coast News app<\/a>\u202ffor your latest news and alerts on breaking news, weather, sports, entertainment, and more on your phone or tablet. And check out the Very Local Gulf Coast app<\/a> to stream news, entertainment and original programming on your TV<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lee County waives pet adoption fees Saturday for Clear the Shelters Lee County residents looking to add a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":372896,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[7070,17478,4830,209,211,210,10704,21098,1827,897,150613,320,3574,150611,15443,27114,150612,164],"class_list":["post-372895","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cape-coral","tag-adoption","tag-application","tag-aug","tag-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral-headlines","tag-cape-coral-news","tag-cat","tag-clear","tag-dog","tag-fort-myers","tag-free-saturday","tag-home","tag-part","tag-pet-adoption-fee-saturday","tag-shelter","tag-shelters","tag-shelters-adoption-event","tag-year"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372895","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=372895"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372895\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/372896"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=372895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=372895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=372895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}