Local animal shelters full, adoptions and food donations needed

This is the fullest the SPCA has been since Carney started working there.

Just 18 months ago, the shelter was busy in the opposite way. There was a huge demand for adoptions as people were spending more time at home at the beginning of the pandemic.

“People are starting to return the animals now because they don’t have the time to spend with them as much as they did before,” Carney said. “It’s a little bit sad.”

Whether it’s due to owners moving or pets being too expensive, he says there are a variety of reasons people are relinquishing animals.

At APARC, a shelter that only takes strays, general manager Kaylyn Major says they are in a similar situation.

“When animals come here, they need to come in as strays,” Major said. “We don’t take owner relinquished animals here but that doesn’t necessarily mean they weren’t adopted during COVID and now that people are going back to work, they’ve brought them here under false pretenses.”

APARC is full of animals, nearing 100 cats including kittens and adults.

Both APARC and the SPCA are in desperate need of more adoptions and wet and dry food.

Local 21-year-old Rylee Maser has noticed the stress the animal shelters are under. She’s in the process of trying to open up her own cat-only shelter.

“I’ve been trying to find a zone that allows animals and up to code and date,” Maser said. “Got to get my business license, got to get a kennel license.”

This has been a dream of hers since she was young. Maser plans to fund the shelter by herself and through donations. She hopes it will be open by January.

But for now, the overwhelmed shelters will continue to help animals and try and find them homes.

“We are really trying to plead to the public to come do adoptions,” Major said

by Teagan Rasche

Local animal shelters full, adoptions and food donations needed

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