Waukesha Woman Adopts Three Cats Named Patches, Mittens, And Pancake As HAWS Waives Fees Through Aug. 15

WAUKESHA — The Humane Animal Welfare Society opened its weekend adoption event Saturday for the 60 animals that arrived via a rescue transport flight the week prior, and as of Monday afternoon had placed 23 of them, with adoption fees waived through August 15 to move the remaining 37.

Among the earliest adopters was Margaret Leung, 68, of Northview Road, who arrived at the North Side facility Saturday morning intending, she said, to adopt one cat. She left with three: a gray tabby she named Patches, a black-and-white she named Mittens, and an orange shorthair she named Pancake, all three carried out in a single reinforced cardboard carrier HAWS staff had to reinforce a second time with packing tape at the front desk.

"I told myself one," Leung said, standing in the parking lot with the carrier balanced on the hood of her Buick. "Then Mittens looked at me. Then the girl at the desk said Pancake had been there the longest of the three. I don't make good decisions in that building."

"I told myself one. Then Mittens looked at me."

— Margaret Leung, 68, Northview Road

23 Down, 37 To Go

HAWS director of adoptions Rebecca Cho said the 23 placements through Monday afternoon track close to the shelter's internal projection, which called for roughly 40 percent of the transported animals to be placed within the first three days of the event. Of the 60 animals that arrived on last week's transport flight, which HAWS logistics staff previously described as 34 dogs, 22 cats, and 4 rabbits, Cho said the early adoptions have skewed heavily toward cats, with 17 of the 23 placements being felines.

"Cats go fast in the first weekend. Dogs take a little longer because people want to meet them more than once," Cho said. "We've had two families come back three separate times to visit the same beagle mix before committing. We're fine with that. We'd rather it be a good match than a fast one."

Cho said the fee waiver, which covers spay/neuter, microchipping, and the standard adoption processing fee through August 15, was adopted from the national Clear the Shelters campaign's own recommended structure rather than devised locally, and is intended specifically to move the remaining 37 animals before the observation period on unadopted arrivals lapses and they re-enter the shelter's general population listings.

The Rabbits Are Not Moving

Of the shelter's harder-to-place cases, Cho said all 4 rabbits from the transport flight remained unadopted as of Monday, a pattern she said HAWS sees "every single time" with rabbits arriving in group transports. "People don't walk in thinking about rabbits. They walk in thinking about a dog or a cat, and then maybe on the way out somebody sees the rabbit enclosure and has a moment," Cho said. She said HAWS has moved the rabbit enclosure closer to the exit doors for the remainder of the waived-fee period.

Leung, for her part, said she had not considered a rabbit. "I came for one cat. I'm going home with three cats and a change of address for my vet," she said. "I'm not going to pretend I have room in my life for a fourth animal of a different species. Ask me again in September."

Cho said HAWS will hold nightly walk-in hours through August 15 to accommodate the waived-fee window and will publish an updated placement count each morning on the shelter's Facebook page. She said the shelter has not yet decided what happens to any of the 60 animals still unplaced when the waiver period ends, calling that "a conversation for August 16."