Shelby Humane sees highest influx of animal intake in years

COLUMBIANA, Ala. ( WIAT ) — Since the beginning of August, Shelby Humane has taken in over 200 dogs and cats. The humane society says in a typical month it takes in 300-400 animals.

“The strays are just coming in constantly, like litters of 7-8 puppies just being found,” Shelby Humane intake manager Burgundi Robertson said.

Shelby Humane says this year is shaping up to be one of its worst when it comes to intake, especially with owner surrenders.

“It’s a lot for the ones who come in and just deteriorate here,” Robertson said.

Shelby Humane says intake is up about 26% from last year, with August seeming to be the highest peak of the season.

“If you can keep them and keep them out of this situation, that’s the best thing for them because bringing them here, it’s a lot of high stress,” Robertson said. “If you can keep them or work with us or let us know and let us just kind of plan for them, that would help out a lot because we only have a certain amount of numbers and if you bring in 6 stray puppies, then we’re trying to figure out where we’re going to put them.”

While we were at Shelby Humane, one woman brought in a dog she found wandering the side of the road that no one claimed on Facebook.

“We were going to end up keeping her but we just don’t have any time for her,” Shelby County resident Allison Perry said.

Perry feels like she’s seen more strays around this year than in years past.

“You can just be driving down the road and you’ll just see like stray dogs running around or I hate to say it but I’ve actually seen some get ran over and I really don’t want to see any animals get ran over,” Perry said.

Shelby Humane says the economy is a big contributor to the number of owner surrenders happening but there are resources available to help pet owners, all they have to do is call and ask.

“We want you to keep your animals,” Robertson said. “We’d prefer them to be there than here.”

Shelby Humane says if people would spay and neuter their animals, it would dramatically cut down on the number of strays in the county.

“It’s making it hard. It’s making it hard on us mentally, physically,” Robertson said. “It’s making it to where we’re having to transport, transport’s killing it. We’re sending a lot of dogs out of state and stuff like that. It’s putting a lot on us.”

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