After contracting in August 2020 to become the animal shelter for Hamilton County in Ohio, Cincinnati Animal Care found 85 of its 100 kennels immediately full.
“We came in with a full shelter the first day,” said Ray Anderson, community engagement manager for the facility, the largest in southern Ohio.
The numbers only have empire In 2022, despite county emergency overflow kennels, Anderson said. By mid-November, the facility housed 200 dogs, some in temporary crates.
“We’ve since brought the population down to 160, but we’re still overcapacity,” Anderson said. this week. While dogs housed in collapsible crates are moved into emergency kennels as soon as they open, “we’ve gotten to the point where we’re talking about housing multiple animals in one kennel, and it’s not safe for them. dogs or volunteers.”
Like Cincinnati Animal Care, many shelters across the country are facing overcapacity, with some making euthanasia decisions in space for the first time in years as more owners abandon their dogs due to problems of inflation and job loss.
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The crisis is particularly acute for municipal animal shelters, a situation that a national animal welfare agency attributes to below-average adoption rates in private shelters, leaving municipal agencies to bear a disproportionate share of the burden. .
“We’ve made tremendous strides to ensure animals aren’t killed in shelters,” said Marc Peralta, program director for Best Friends Animal Society, a national animal welfare agency based in Utah. It’s a good thing, but you can’t stick to them. You need to take more active steps.
The situation has been exacerbated by high inflation and staffing shortages that have put many shelters behind the eight ball in terms of fighting overcrowding. A review of 2021-2022 data compiled by Best Friends from 639 establishments nationwide showed that while adoption rates are up 2.7% overall, they remain below levels before the pandemic.
At the same time, admission rates rose 5%, Peralta said, while live release rates — animals released through adoption, rescue, transfer or returned to owners — fell 2%. With a growing number of shelters adopting “no killing” policies – live release rates of 90% or more – the result is a “demographic imbalance” that has left facilities overcrowded and reconsidering these policies.
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“It’s not because there are more animals, but because they cling to it,” Peralta said.
The 639 shelters examined by Best Friends cumulatively housed 1.3 million animals from January to September, but the data showed stark differences between municipal and private shelters, such as humane societies and foster agencies.
Admission rates increased by more than 7% in municipal shelters, but less than 2% in private facilities. For dogs, the rates were even higher – 13% in municipal shelters and 3% in private facilities.
While private institutions generally have much more control over their admissions, the disparity is even more pronounced in terms of adoptions. Municipal shelters adopted 8.6% of animals; for dogs, the figure was an astonishing 17%.
However, adoption rates decreased by 1.3% in private organizations, increasing only slightly (1.6%) for those with municipal contracts.
Meanwhile, gains made at municipal agencies were largely offset by an 18% drop in the number of “rescue pulls” – animals transferred to these private agencies, which are often better equipped to adopt them.
“Many of them don’t participate in public events and proactive promotions as much as they used to, and some still want to do appointment-only endorsements,” Peralta said. “These are all barriers to people’s entry.”
The situation echoes what Cincinnati Animal Care has seen as its kennels remain overcrowded.
“We’ve seen a big decrease in the number of foster agencies coming out of shelters,” Anderson said. “We’re definitely swept up in this national crisis – because there’s a lot of shelter right now.”
Lack of affordable pet-friendly housing among concerns
Research conducted this year by animal welfare organizations showed that the top reasons given by dog and cat owners for abandoning their pets included job or housing changes or the cost of keeping them. The price of pet food, for example, increased by 16% from November 2021 to November 2022, according to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Such struggles, compounded by a COVID-19 shortage of veterinary care aggravated by rising inflation.
“Long before the pandemic, the lack of access to pet-friendly housing and affordable veterinary care was already forcing families to make the difficult choice of parting with their pets,” said Christa Chadwick, vice -President of Shelter Services for the ASPCA.
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In Daytona Beach, Florida, Barry KuKes of the Halifax Humane Society said abandonment of pets has increased for several reasons – unemployment, economically driven relocation or people returning to the workplace post -pandemic.
“Rents have doubled in some cases, and people have to give up their dogs because the new apartment complex doesn’t allow certain breeds or certain dogs over 30 pounds,” KuKes said. Still, he said, the shelter’s live release rate actually increased slightly, to nearly 94%.
In Cincinnati, Anderson said the lack of affordable pet-friendly housing was the top reason cited by owners abandoning pets, with owners imposing breed or weight limits that restrict large dogs.
Larger dogs are harder to adopt and more likely to deteriorate in kennel situations, Anderson said. While some can endure long stays, others experience severe “kennel stress” – spinning in place, smearing droppings on their walls, or wearing down their claws trying to dig.
“An overcrowded, noisy, stressful shelter will do the dogs a disservice,” Anderson said. “Shelters that weren’t euthanized for space are now doing so. We’re not there yet, but we’ve been seeing dogs here for so long that we’re starting to worry about the quality of life.
Chadwick of the ASPCA said that was the case even though national euthanasia rates have remained steady at 8% for the past few years and below the 11% rate in 2019.
“Some shelters have to make decisions about euthanasia that they haven’t had to make in a while,” she said. In addition to higher admission rates, staff and vet shortages, facilities face higher rates of animals with medical and behavioral needs, she added.
Animal welfare advocates say community support is crucial, encouraging people to adopt pets, donate to shelters or become foster families.
“We always say it’s not an insurmountable problem,” Anderson said, noting the Cincinnati metro area’s population of 2.2 million people. “A question of 100 dogs going out today would get us to 50% capacity.”
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