*Editor’s note: Earlier this month, The Clarion ran a story featuring the Veterinary Tech program on campus. It was erroneously stated that there are 70 species on campus when it should have stated 70 animals. It also stated that all the animals are available for adoption when only small animals such as dogs, cats, mice, etc. are available for adoption. We apologize for the erroneous report as we strive to be completely factual with all of our reporting.

The animal adoption program at Madison Area Technical College offers a wide variety of animals looking for good homes. There are approximately 70 various species housed at the Truax campus, including cats, dogs, horses and “pocket pets,” like hamsters. Soon, the animal adoption program will even get farm animals, such as chickens. They have a barn behind the Truax campus for many of the animals.

According to Melissa Hayden, instructional laboratory planner at Madison College, the animals available for adoption come from local humane societies. These animals can be adopted by anyone, not just Madison College students.

The first step in the adoption process is to take a “Meet Your Match” survey, where someone interested in adopting a new pet would answer a few questions to find out which animal they are most compatible with.

“You can come back and see what we have available,” Hayden said. “Once you find a pet you’d like to adopt we have an application that needs to be filled out.

The application is then faxed from here to the humane society that the pet came from. They approve or not approve, and then they let us know and they’ll let that person know. If they’re approved, then they’ll go home finals week.”

Roughly 50 new animals come in every spring and fall semester. For one looking to adopt a new pet, they should first look at Madison College, because the adoption fee is cheaper than it is at local humane societies.

“The flat fee is $55 for dogs and $45 for cats, which is actually about half the cost of what you would pay at a humane society,” Hayden said. “That’s basically a favor to the humane society. They reciprocate with a reduced cost because we have their animals for the semester. We spay them or neuter them, we vaccinate them, we remove any parasites, and we do basic blood checks, urine checks – all that kind of stuff at no cost to them.”

The adoption services are student-run by those in the Veterinary Technician program. It began in 1972 and has been continuing every spring and fall since. There are currently about 145 students enrolled in the Vet Tech program. The majority of these students are involved with the adoption services in some way throughout their schooling. Hayden said that many students who volunteer with the adoption services gain confidence skills by working in a hands-on environment and having many opportunities to speak with the public regarding their animals.

“One way or another, we try to get everyone involved in it somehow, even just a couple hours to put together binders and pamphlets for the outgoing adopted animals,” Hayden said.

Unfortunately, not many Madison College students are aware of this animal adoption program. They do not advertise outside of Madison College, so they rely solely on word of mouth and on-campus recognition. Casey Helmrath, a current Madison College student, said he had no idea one could adopt an animal at the Truax campus.

However, almost 100 percent of all animals are adopted every semester through this program. Last spring, all but one cat found new homes. That means about 50 animals were adopted. It is not untypical for a Veterinary Technician student to adopt one of the animals, because it is hard not to get attached to them, Hayden added.

“Every one of them could be adopted, or occasionally we’ve had a couple cats that don’t get adopted so they go back to the shelter,” she said. “If they go back to the shelter, we found they get adopted almost immediately because they’re so socialized and they’ve been handled so much by our students that they’re like, ‘Yay! People!’”

Students at Madison College not looking to adopt a pet at this time can also donate to the adoption services provided here.

Hayden expressed her eagerness to see all the animals find caring homes, and encourages those attending Madison College to come and see the animals they have available. She concluded by expressing her fondness towards the animals at Madison College.

“We feel strongly about providing quality care for the animals here,” Hayden said. “We’d obviously love for them to all have good homes.”