Tuesday is “Adopt a Shelter Pet Day,” and animal shelters and rescue organizations across San Diego County are using it as an opportunity to raise awareness about overcrowding.
They say they’re taking in more and more animals every day, and they’re running out of room for them.
“Frankly, we’re scared,” said San Diego Humane Society President and CEO Dr. Gary Weitzman. “We’ve never had this many dogs at this point in time during the year.”
The San Diego Humane Society said there are currently more than 600 dogs in their care on any given day, and they’re not the only ones reaching a breaking point.
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Jennifer Stein with PAWS of Coronado said they’re also at capacity.
“We’re seeing animals come in with more medical complexity cases and it is putting a lot of stress on not only the staff, but the finances for the organization as well,” Stein said.
PAWS and SDHS are among nearly a dozen of local organizations who came together Tuesday morning, to sound the alarm and ask for the community’s help to adopt or foster a shelter animal. They’re also urging people to spay or neuter their pets and to try to rehome an animal before surrendering it to a shelter.
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“This is supposed to be our slow period. We go into the summer and we have double, triple the number of animals we currently have in the spring,” Weitzman said. “If that happens this summer, it truly will be a crisis.”
Click here for more information on how you can be part of the solution.
