Animal shelters seem to be perpetually at capacity — especially in the summer. The good news is that there are plenty of ways animal lovers can help.
Noura Jammal is the Animal Services manager for the City of Richardson, and she spoke with us about ways to get involved:
Ron Corning: Where do things stand right now? Are you at or over capacity?
Noura Jammal: Thankfully, we are not. We've had a lot of great work from our fosters, our rescue groups, our volunteers who have assisted us with getting the animals out to rescue groups or in foster care. So thankfully, we're not seeing the numbers that some of the other shelters are seeing. A lot of other shelters are seeing an increase in animals being dropped off, stray intakes and owner surrenders. A lot of this has to do with in the spring and summer, we do see a lot of babies coming in, kittens and puppies, and people having to downsize to apartment complexes which have breed and weight restrictions. So, the larger breed dogs tend to stick with us for a longer period of time.
Ron Corning: Are you able to work with these other shelters to sort of figure out that this shelter over here has some room that's just opened up, or we have some room here in Richardson and you're able to transport and help replace or rehome some of these animals temporarily until they can find fosters?
Noura Jammal: Yes, we do have a really great partnership with our DFW area shelters. If someone needs help, we get on our e-mail chain and send out like, you know, we just took in a hoarding case of 60 plus cats. Is someone able to take five here, five there?
Ron Corning: I love that for people who can't adopt or foster, you have a doggie day out program.
Noura Jammal: Our volunteers are able to take a dog out for the day. It can be for a couple of hours, or it can be the entire day. This gives the dog the ability to get out of the shelter. They can hang out at home with you. They can go to a pet-friendly patio. Anywhere that you would like for them to be seen – a lot of people take them to Lowe's, Home Depot, just getting them out and about in the community, showing off these animals, letting people know where they're available for adoption. … A lot of our volunteers will take videos of these outings and post them on TikTok, which is amazing. And we've seen a lot of really great adoptions through this program.
Ron Corning: I also understand that some of your volunteers come by way of court-ordered community service. I didn't realize that was a thing. Now, this is for nonviolent and non-drug offenses. Are you seeing people choose their community service at your shelter?
Noura Jammal: Yes, we get a lot of people who are interested in doing their court ordered services here. What they do is they help us in the mornings, especially whenever we're cleaning cages and kennels. And that is a huge part of what we have to do: ensuring the safety and the cleanliness of our shelter to keep these pets happy and healthy.
Ron Corning: Have any of them left with a new pet?
Noura Jammal: Several have, yes.
Ron Corning: Really?
Noura Jammal: It does happen. And some go on to become a volunteer that just come in because they really love helping out with the animal shelter.
