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Morty is one of 10 dogs whose adoption fees will be waived next week. The Berkshire Humane Society is participating in the statewide event to help 'long-termers' find forever homes.
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Clockwise from left, Harvey, Luna and Cookie are tired of hanging out at the Humane Society and would love a real home.

Berkshire Humane Society Holding Fee Waived Event Next Week

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff
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PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Berkshire Humane Society is having a fee-waived adoption event for dogs one year and older.

This event is called "Big Dog Energy" and is happening in many shelters across Massachusetts. It runs from April 22 through April 27.

"There is still just an influx of adult dogs who are sitting in shelters," said Berkshire Humane Society's Executive Director John Perreault.

Last year, the Berkshire Humane Society participated in a week of fee-waived adoptions for the Mass-Saves promotion, also because of an influx of adult dogs staying in the shelter.

Perrault said it's still the case, unfortunately.

"They're not moving all across the state so we're right now really trying to promote all the great dogs that all the shelters have around the state," he said.

Perrault said there could be many reasons some dogs are not getting adopted right away.

"Some people have blamed it on people getting rid of their dogs coming out of COVID, some people believe it's the economy, you know, that it costs so much to take care of a dog and the cost of everything is going up," he said. "By hopefully fee waiving the adoption fee that may trigger some people to realize that you know, if that's a barrier or a hurdle and we can eliminate that to put a good dog in a good home, then it's certainly worth it." 

Perrault said he is hoping this event is successful as some past ones haven't been.

"The fee-waived adoptions around the state have been very very successful. The first one we did I think we placed five dogs who were over 600 days of care when they were here, I cant remember the exact amount, and it was awesome because they were long-termers," he said. "Since then we've done about five or six of these along with everybody else and many other shelters around the state are finding huge success and we're not, I think we've gone through one or two where we may not have placed any during that fee waived week.

"So, we're hoping this one's going to be a successful one."

The shelter currently has 10 dogs available whose fees will be waived next week


Tags: adoption,   Berkshire Humane Society,   dogs,   

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Former Harry's Supermarket Under Construction for Restaurant

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Construction is underway to transform the former Harry's Supermarket into a restaurant

Late last month, the Conservation Commission greenlit some tree pruning on the property. New windows and a new door can be seen in the front of the building. 

"It's a substantial renovation that's currently underway here," Brent White of White Engineering said, speaking on behalf of the applicant and owner, Huajie Zhu. 

A fire gutted the longtime Wahconah Street supermarket in 2023, and the following year, Zhu purchased the property for $460,000 two years ago to build a restaurant with hibachi in the existing footprint of the more than 100-year-old building. 

White explained that the project has been ongoing for over a year, and the Community Development Board granted the property a waiver to reduce the minimum required number of parking spaces so that additional spaces aren't needed.  

He noted that, looking at the site plan, there is very little room to do so. A mirror will be installed near the sharp turn on Bel Air Avenue to alleviate traffic concerns. 

Pruning will be done on trees in the southeast corner of the existing paved parking lot, as a number of branches are hanging over. The new owners also intend to patch, sealcoat, and re-stripe the parking lot. 

A fire tore through the building less than an hour after the supermarket closed for the day three years ago. An automatic sprinkler system is required for the new use. 

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