Animal shelters are jampacked
Area pet shelters are bulging at the seams in spite of efforts to promote adoptions and make pet sterilizations affordable.
While adoptions are up and euthanizations are down, shelters are experiencing record numbers of animals picked up as strays or turned in by owners.
“I’ve been in this business for over 30 years. It’s like we’re beating our heads against the wall. People don’t care that their animals run loose and get pregnant,” said Gail Mackie, director of SpokAnimal CARE.
It’s a simple equation: Too many pets and too few homes equal overcrowded shelters.
Last year, shelters were forced to kill about 6,000 dogs and cats, although a few were sick or vicious.
Over the past six years, SpokAnimal handed out about 13,000 vouchers that discount costs of spaying and neutering by $27.50 to $50, depending on the animal. They are accepted by area veterinarians who take reduced rates to support the program.
SpokAnimal and Spokane County Regional Animal Care and Protection Services expect to house a combined total of 700 more pets than last year.
“We’re on track to handle over 7,000 animals this year. Every year, I think it’s going to get better,” said Nancy Hill, director of SCRAPS.
The county shelter adopted out 2,652 animals so far this year, compared with 2,469 last year.
Although SCRAPS gave away 1,400 spay and neuter vouchers this year, it was still inundated with kittens.
Cats can give birth to several litters during their mating season, which runs spring through fall. One day, the shelter had a record 39 kittens that had accumulated over several days.
Some people who drop off animals seem to assume the facility possesses a magical means of conjuring up homes, Hill said.
“Guess what? If they can’t find homes, we can’t either,” Hill said. “We are not the solution, the community is the solution.”
Fees from pet licenses support the sterilization program, yet Hill estimates only 40 percent of dogs and 15 to 20 percent of cats are licensed in the county. House pets become strays when they leave home without identification tags or microchips.
Mackie said the area’s situation is so unrelenting that people who work at area shelters are experiencing “compassion fatigue.”
They hire on because they love animals, then become attached to pets that may be euthanized if the kennels and cages fill beyond capacity.
Shelters put healthy, adoptable pets to sleep only as a last resort when they have been housed for a period of time and an influx of new animals overcrowds the facility.
Trainers are working with pets to make them more adoptable and even testing their temperaments to ensure that people are matched with animals that suit their lifestyles.
Mackie said her staff is learning marketing strategies that make pets more attractive to potential adopters.
Dark-colored dogs are kenneled with lighter-colored pets and given names. Studies show that black dogs don’t show well in kennels and putting several together decreases their odds of being adopted.
Cats are paired and given names like Salt and Pepper and Peanut Butter and Jelly in hopes that people will adopt them in pairs.
Groups transport adoptable animals to Western Washington shelters that have demands for those pets.
Mug shots and bios are posted on PetFinder.com, which leads to placement outside the Spokane area. Mackie said a tabby cat found a new life in Pennsylvania.
“Having these animals on the Internet has made a world of difference,” she said.
Numbers are slightly down at Spokane Humane Society, a facility that houses owner-surrendered pets.
Overwhelmed by the numbers of animals flooding the shelter last year – which resulted in cat kennels lined up on the floor – Humane Society staff started asking people to find homes for their own pets.
“We’re saying, ‘Be patient, work with us and your kitty will have a chance,’ ” Director Jim Fox explained. “Our choice is either to euthanize like mad or turn people away.”
The shelter sterilized 105 feral cats recently in hopes of curbing the wild cat population, but Fox said the ability to solve pet overpopulation lies with the community.
“You can’t just keep building prisons here – that’s not the answer.”