Animal shelters throughout the Peterborough, Ont., area are experiencing capacity crunches with the number of animals waiting to be adopted.
At the Peterborough Humane Society, executive director Shawn Morey says the shelter is over capacity and can’t accept any more animals.
“We have 140 animals in our building right now — all different stages,” he said. “Some are up for adoptions, some in our care.”
It’s a similar situation at the Northumberland Humane Society based in Cobourg, which had to close.
“We are overloaded,” executive director Henny Venus told Global News in late June. “We are bursting out of the seams at our shelter. We had to close the shelter for at least a month and it was a very difficult decision to make. But with no space physically anymore to have good animal care, we had to make a decision and say, ‘We have no space at the moment.”
Further complicating the issue was an upper respiratory outbreak among the shelter’s cat population earlier this month, prompting a closure of the cat adoption room for public viewing. Appointments must be booked in advance.
In Lindsay, the Humane Society of Kawartha Lakes has also paused animal acceptances.
“Unfortunately, our shelter is nearly at full capacity, requiring us to pause on accepting animal surrenders at this time,” the shelter stated on Wednesday. “Please call us if you have found a stray animal and we will do what we can to assist. Emergency situations will continue to be the highest level of priority.”
The Ontario SPCA and Humane Society says the capacity issues are being experienced across the province — with trending increases in both the number of strays and owners surrendering pets to shelters.
“I would say there’s an increase in both for sure,” provincial operations manager Danielle Johnson said. “And definitely an increase in dogs coming into care over previous years.”
To adjust, the Northumberland Humane Society has relocated its thrift store in Cobourg to Covert Street, with donations and money raised to be reinvested into the shelter.
Morey says there are resources available for individuals considering pet surrenders.
“If you do have a pet and you are running on some tough times prior to looking to surrender or re-home that animal, give us a call, we will provide you with some resources and support so you do not have to make that difficult decision,” he said.
Morey notes animal shelters are able to share resources and fostering programs to provide some capacity relief but levels remain critical. He says adopting an animal can be life-changing for both the animal and the new owner.
“Today’s day and age when there is so much stress out there and pressures, the one greatest thing that could alleviate that is a family member like a pet,” he said.