BANGOR, Maine — Editor's note: You are hearing the term 'flattening the curve' as a way to stem the tide of coronavirus cases. The above video explains what that means.
Staying at home during the COVID-19 coronavirus spread, and working remotely for the foreseeable future could be the perfect time to adopt a pet.
The Centers for Disease Control and the American Veterinary Medical Association have said that pets are not at risk for contracting COVID-19.
The Bangor Humane Society has 30 dogs and 30 cats waiting for a new home.
"We are allowing one visitor at a time into the building, we are telling folks to go on our website all of our available animals are on our website with their bios check and see who you are interested in," said Suzan Prendergast, the Director at the Bangor Humane Society.
"We are not allowing visitors to come in and just tour around to take a look at our pets, this is not a time with social distancing we are trying to follow CDC guidelines to keep our staff, our volunteers, and everyone here in the shelter. 'Safe', meaning in order to adopt right now you need to have an appointment," said Predergast.
They have a new mechanism in place during the COVID-19 spread for you to be able to find your furry friend:
- Go to the Bangor Humanes Society's website
- Click on 'adopt'
- Scroll through the different cat and dog options they have available (bio included)
- Fill out the adoption application
- The Bangor Humane Society staff will contact you after to set up an appointment and meet and greet the pet outside of the building, and if it's a good fit you can take it home!
Erin Ellison and Ryan Grindle realized that a four-legged companion who could give them comfort during these uncertain times and followed the simple process put up by the Bangor Humane Society.
Social Distancing Video
"I work in healthcare so I'm kind of in the front lines of everything going on, the work situation is a little stressful and anxiety-provoking," said Ellison.
One of the reasons why they adopted a two-month-old puppy called Madden.
"I'm working from home right now and I definitely think that it's providing a new challenge, that's for sure, but with so much uncertainty..and trying to focus on the digital world it's nice to step away from the computer or the phone," said Grindle.
They say this was the best time to adopt.
"For now when she's very young I think there was no other time that we were going to be able to have an extended period of time where someone could really have eyes on her hour to hour," said Grindle.
If you own a pet and think you can't commit to it due to financial strains because of COVID-19, you can call the Bangor Humane Society, the Good Shepherd Food Bank, and your local food pantry to receive free pet food.
"If people want to call 211 they can find out what area food pantries are distributing pet food," said Predergast.
If you are healthy and you are going to the supermarkets, you can check on your neighbors or relatives who are at higher risk of contracting the coronavirus, and offer to walk their dogs, or go to the store for them to get pet food!
At NEWS CENTER Maine, we're focusing our news coverage on the facts and not the fear around the illness. To see our full coverage, visit our coronavirus section, here: /coronavirus
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