Animal shelters across Tri-State search for solutions to overcrowding

Animal shelters across the Tri-State said they're at or over capacity and are searching for solutions to get the animals adopted.

“This facility is actually only built to house 100 dogs and we have closer to 200 here at any given time," said Abby Moore, the community engagement coordinator for Cincinnati Animal CARE.

The shelter has volunteers who come to walk the dogs, plus play groups and even a program that allows volunteers to take these dogs on field trips, but Moore said it's not enough.

“No matter what we do here, a shelter is not a home," she said.

For some dogs, the shelter has been their home for more than 90 days and the problem has only gotten worse since the Fourth of July holiday, when fireworks led to some dogs running away from home.

“Since July 3 we’ve had 130 dogs until today and about 107 cats," Moore said.

As of Friday, she said only 35 of the animals have been returned to their owner.

Campbell County Animal Services hasn't seen that Fourth of July increase, but just like many Tri-State shelters, they're at capacity. Director Lisa Krummen said many of the animals are being surrendered by their owners.

“A lot of it is ‘I can’t afford, I’m moving.’ Some say, ‘I’ve gone back to work, I don’t have time,'" she said.

Just like at Cincinnati Animal CARE, dogs are staying in their care longer than they used to, from an average of 15 days before 2022 to an average of 78 days now. Some dogs have even been there for a year or more.

For many shelters, the solution to an over-crowded shelter is often a promotional adoption event, to get more animals into their new forever home, but Krummen said these events were more effective before the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We could clear the shelter of all of our available animals pretty quickly back then, we can’t do it now," she said.

Now, shelter leaders are searching for other solutions, but they said in the meantime, anyone can help in a few ways. They are always looking for volunteers to walk the dogs and get them out of their kennels more.

Cincinnati Animal CARE also allows dogs to be fostered.