KC Pet Project, an animal shelter in Kansas City, Missouri, opened a brand-new facility in January 2020. It came just in time: Last year, they took in 16,000 animals — more than double they took when they opened in 2012. Although the pandemic came with a spurt of foster and adoption interest early on, the rescue is now facing an overcrowding crisis.
“We’re seeing 40 to 60 new animals coming in every single day here. And we’ve never seen this many dogs — ever,” said Tori Fugate, the organization’s chief communications officer.
They’re not alone. In Maricopa County, Arizona, Home Fur Good did 848 adoptions in 2020. “Which was phenomenal, we’d never had that many,” said board member Loretta Isaac.
This year, they’re on track for 350 adoptions, less than half what they did in 2020 but also fewer than an average year pre-pandemic, Isaac said.
Early in the pandemic, rescues across the country saw a record number of adoptions. Some shelters sat empty for the first time. But now, not enough animals leaving shelters is a national trend, according to Shelter Animals Count, a nonprofit that surveys 7,000 U.S. animal shelters and rescues each year. Dogs — particularly medium and large breed dogs — are going longer without a permanent home, according to SAC. What gives?
Shelter overcrowding is a multifaceted issue that doesn’t have one solution, said SAC executive director Stephanie Filer. But their partner organizations say housing has become the number one reason people give up their pets.
The data backs this up. In a 2021 survey of non-rural renters by the Pet-Inclusive Housing Initiative, 72% of respondents said pet-friendly housing is hard to find and 59% said pet-friendly housing is too expensive. Fourteen percent said they’ve surrendered their pet as a result of their housing sit …
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