At least three local animal welfare organizations are at capacity, and one is shutting its doors at the end of this year. But this crisis is not new, and it is not going anywhere any time soon.
Particularly, the crisis is affecting animal shelters in non-rural areas. Not only are there more companion animals where there are more people, but also urban shelters have finite space compared to rural shelters.
As food prices, medical prices, and cost of living rise, and people all over the country are strapped for cash, their companion animals are often the first thing to go. On October 18, the nonprofit announced that Jersey City agreed to terminate both animal control and sheltering service agreements, leaving LHS "unable to appropriately fund or manage Jersey City's animal sheltering program and facility," the nonprofit said in a statement.
"In New Jersey, there's no funding from the state that is able to directly support animal sheltering mandates. Every municipality in New Jersey has to decide, well, how are we going to fund this?" said Borngraeber. When people come in to adopt a pet, animal welfare organizations do their best to match them with the right animal.
"When interest rates rise, and the cost of food and housing is increasing, putting off care for their animals. And so, small problems become large, and then those animals end up on our doorstep," said Rosenthal.Many people blame the animal welfare crisis on the fallout from the COVID pandemic, as many people adopted "pandemic puppies" and can no longer care for them as they return to in-person work.
Even if someone is able to secure and afford housing that is pet-friendly, they may face other roadblocks when it comes to the animal's medical care. Another key issue when it comes to animal welfare is how companion animals are legally designated, Borngraeber says. It is a common practice for animal welfare organizations to transfer animals from one shelter to another to free up space. However, with more and more animal shelters reaching capacity, their options are running dry.
With all of these factors impacting the rising intake at animal shelters, some fear the animal sheltering crisis in the United States will only worsen."You'll get a call, and the dog chewed the expensive rug. One of the partners will say, the dog has to go. What we have found is if we schedule them out, people come up with their own resolutions. Some people realize, well, I never liked that rug," Rosenthal said.
"It doesn't go down. The number of animals that leave the organization, a similar number, if not more, come back in," Rosenthal said."If they've fallen on hard times, where we'll do emergency holds for dogs, where we'll give them 30 days to try to figure out if they can better their situation. We'd love to have them have their animal return to them," said Bergamini.
Perhaps the easiest way to help animal welfare organizations in your area is to raise awareness and educate others about their struggles.
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