What Happens When You Surrender An Animal To The Herps Alive

What happens when you surrender an animal to the Herps Alive Foundation?

When you surrender an animal to us, we take over responsibility for all of his or her care. The well-being of your animal is very important to us. If he or she is sick we will provide appropriate treatment. If the animal is healthy and legal, we will attempt to re-home it to a qualified home. We do charge a re-homing fee to discourage flipping.

There is no fee for you to surrender your animal. We do encourage and appreciate donations of cash and/or supplies and equipment. As a 501(c)(3) charity, we can provide a receipt for your taxes.. There are a couple exceptions. There is a $10 fee for any animal considered native OR INVASIVE to Ohio, including red-eared sliders and yellow bellied sliders, to cover the cost of having them PIT tagged, as required by the Ohio Division of Wildlife. We also request a $10 donation on pickups. These fees may be waived by the Executive Director.

As a general rule, surrendering owners cannot readopt their animal and may be disqualified from adopting another animal.

Potential adopters are carefully screened. They must submit a written adoption application. We also conduct an in-person interview before giving final approval. (At some off-premises outreach events, this process is reversed, with the interview coming first).

If you DO NOT want your pet re-homed, you have several options. One and three-year SPONSORSHIPS are available as space permits. The cost of a one year sponsorship is equal to the animal’s re-homing fee. Three-year sponsorships are 2½ times the re-homing fee. With a sponsorship you receive an annual photo of the animal upon request and the chance to interact with him or her here at any time during public hours, and a guarantee that the animal will not be re-homed during that time. You also receive signage on the cage, crediting you or your company with sponsoring the animal, if you wish.

In a SANCTUARY contract, we agree to keep and care for the animal for its remaining life, although we may lend these animals to accredited classroom situations. The required donation for SANCTUARY is ten times the typical re-homing fee of the animal. You have all the rights (photos, visitation, signage) of a sponsorship, if you so choose.

We reserve the right to use any animal for outreach, educational or promotional purposes, but we will keep your name private. 

Please call our executive Director Keith Gisser at 216-374-1392, or e-mail herpsalive@earthlink.net with any questions. Thank you.