Riverside County Animal Services joins BISSELL Pet Foundation’s Empty the Shelters adoption event, Sept. 18–30, 2026

Riverside County Department of Animal Services will participate in BISSELL Pet Foundation’s Empty the Shelters adoption event September 18–30, 2026; the county says BISSELL will sponsor reduced adoption fees of $70 or less for cats and dogs and that all participating pets are spayed or neutered, vaccinated and microchipped.

The county release lists shelter hours and locations for the event. Coachella Valley Animal Campus: 72-050 Pet Land Place, Thousand Palms; San Jacinto Valley Animal Campus: 581 S. Grand Ave., San Jacinto; Western Riverside County/City Animal Shelter: 6851 Van Buren Blvd, Jurupa Valley; Blythe Animal Shelter: 245 S Carlton Ave., Blythe. Hours vary by site; the release gives weekday and weekend times.

Riverside County’s news release describes current capacity pressure at local shelters; it states RCDAS shelters are operating in 'critical overcapacity' and that 'over 1,000 pets' are available for adoption across the shelter system. Those figures and the 'critical overcapacity' characterization are presented as claims from the county.

The county quoted RCDAS Assistant Director Dr. Kimberly Youngberg: "We want to help as many pets as possible to find loving homes, and we hope the community can open their hearts to a deserving pet." The release also quoted Cathy Bissell, founder of BISSELL Pet Foundation, urging residents to visit shelters during the event.

The release contains inconsistent fee language; it first says BISSELL will sponsor "reduced adoption fees of $70 or less" and later describes "fee-waived adoptions" at the listed locations and times. The county did not reconcile those two statements in the release; the exact fee structure for specific adoptions is therefore unclear from this source alone.

Practical consequence: if fees are lowered as described, adoption will be more affordable and could increase placements, which would create space for other animals; that outcome is an inference based on standard shelter operations and the county’s stated goals, not an observed result reported in the release.

The release also promotes short-term fostering and provides the county’s adoption and foster pages (www.rcdas.org/adopt and www.rcdas.org/foster) for people who cannot adopt but want to help. Offering fosters is presented as an additional measure to relieve shelter crowding; whether it will materially reduce occupancy during or after the event is not reported.

What we do and do not know: the county release provides event dates, site addresses, operating hours and quoted statements from officials; it does not provide baseline intake and outcome data, historical adoption rates, or modelling that would show how much capacity relief the event is expected to produce. Those gaps limit the ability to estimate the event’s likely impact on shelter overcrowding.

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