Detroit shelter tells owners: 'Come get your pets!'

Detroit — The Detroit animal shelter had planned to usher in the new year with free adoptions and a free ride home for pets whose owners claimed them, but a surge in workers infected with COVID-19 forced the city delay part of the plan until Tuesday.

Detroit Animal Care & Control still will help residents reunite with their lost pets over the holiday, and the shelter is offering amnesty for fees, tags and tickets to get them back home. Residents can check the shelter's lost-and-found section from noon to 2:30 p.m. Friday through Tuesday.

The shelter hopes to be back to normal operations next week, its directors told The Detroit News on Thursday.

Mark Kumpf, director of Animal Care & Control for the Detroit Health Department, said the message for Detroiters is: "Come get your pets!"

And tag them.

“We want all Detroiters to microchip their pets," he said. "It is the safest and most efficient way to reunite pets with their owners. We are able to offer New Year’s Amnesty to strays this holiday weekend who are microchipped. This allows our Animal Control Officers to locate the pet owners, and be able to bring them to their humans instead of our facility."

Unclaimed animals are at Detroit Animal Care, 7401 Chrysler Dr., Detroit.

srahal@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @SarahRahal_