No Vacancy: Lakelands Animal Shelters Encourage Adoptions Amid Overcrowding | New

Animal shelters are full and need help placing adoptable animals in loving homes.

On Thursday, the Laurens County Animal Shelter announced it was at critical capacity, slashing adoption fees to $ 20 in a bid to boost adoptions.

“We have dogs left and right,” said Courtney Braman at the Laurens Shelter. “We got rid of 10 dogs on Thursday, the Charleston Animal Society picked them up.”

Their shelter, which houses only dogs, had 35 dogs on Friday. The day before, they were at full capacity. The shelter also offers foster families and a foster family adoption program. Animals must be held for five days in case an owner comes to claim them, but if no one shows up, the animals can begin to be approved for adoption.

“But only 10% of owners come to collect them,” said Braman. “We are overloaded and understaffed right now. We are just trying to get the animals that we have a good home.

To view the Animal Shelter’s dogs online, visit petango.com/Laurens, or visit the refuge between noon and 5 p.m. on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday or Friday at 79 Mount Vernon Church Road, Laurens.

More than 50 animal shelters participated in a statewide adoption campaign in late June, led by the Charleston Animal Society. According to a press release from the Charleston Animal Society, shelters statewide were reporting they were at full capacity or overcapacity, and the campaign was aimed at getting people to adopt, foster, sponsor an adoption, or raise awareness of the crisis facing shelters.

In the end, the state adopted 1,723 animals, but local shelters are still struggling to reduce their numbers.

“There is a crisis statewide,” said Connie Mawyer, executive director of the Humane Society of Greenwood. “We are refueling as fast as we can adopt. … We’re trying to figure out what the problem is, because if it’s a statewide problem, it’s not just a local problem.

She said it could be animals adopted while people were working from home during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, with behavioral issues developing once pet owners had to return at work and leave their pets at home without companionship. Summer usually also sees a spike in stray animals, she said.

Overcrowding in the shelter can cause the disease to spread easily and create a very anxious environment where it is difficult for dogs to socialize and be conditioned for adoption. Mawyer said the shelter promotes foster animals, to help place them in a setting where they can adapt and prepare for adoption.

“When you talk about intake management, it’s not just about managing what comes in, because you really can’t,” she said. “We have to take care of every animal that comes here, so we have to develop systems and practices to condition them and make them adoptable. “

Normally, when a shelter is at or near full capacity, it can count on other shelters and rescue organizations nearby to temporarily house the animals. Not this time around, Mawyer said, as every shelter faces overcrowding.

“They are in the same position too, they are overcrowded,” she said. “We’re not going to euthanize them just because we don’t have space. We will use all the resources we have.

That’s why they worked with the Charleston Animal Society to host the Pick Me SC adoption event, and why the Humane Society is providing more in-depth training for volunteers. For more information about the Humane Society of Greenwood and how to adopt or foster, visit gwdhumanesociety.org.

Overcrowded kennels are common at the Humane Society of McCormick County, said Jeanne Amos, where they have 12 pens and no full-time staff. The whole organization is run by volunteers, and since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, it has been a challenge to get the volunteers they need.

“We don’t even have a vet in our county. If we have to take an animal to the vet, we have to go to Edgefield or Lincoln County, Georgia, ”Amos said.

Their shelter uses petfinder.com and their Facebook page to promote their adoptable animals. A new building inside the shelter aims to provide a quieter space for animals recovering from injury or illness to rest, freeing up space in the main enclosures.

To contact the McCormick Humane Society regarding adoption, placement, or volunteering, call 864-391-2349. The most useful thing pet owners can do, Amos said, is to make sure they are spaying and neutering their animals.

“This is the only way we’re going to make a dent in this,” she said. “You cannot take your own way out of overcrowding.”

Contact editor-in-chief Damian Dominguez at 864-634-7548 or follow him on Twitter @IJDDOMINGUEZ.

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