Dallas Animal Services has reached its highest capacity since the COVID-19 pandemic began. The shelter is running out of space for medium and large dogs — with hundreds more animals coming in every week.
Leah Backo, the public information coordinator for DAS, said the spring and summer months always bring a spike in intakes, but right now, they're far outpacing adoptions.
"So we were taking in 80 to a hundred pets every single day and only finding outcomes for 40 to 50 of them," she said. "It's kind of been steadily increasing, but at that rate, it's just not sustainable."
Backo said last April, more than 100 dogs were being cared for by foster families. Now, fewer than 20 dogs have foster homes.
In a press release, DAS Interim Director MeLissa Webber said the shelter's filling up faster than pets can be rehomed, creating an unsustainable gap in their lifesaving efforts.
"If we do not get help from our community now, we will be forced to make difficult space decisions in the coming days," Webber said.
Backo said DAS hasn't euthanized animals to free up kennel space in almost two years. But if intakes keep outpacing fosters and adoptions, they may have to resort to that.
"If people have been thinking about adopting a dog, a large dog especially, I cannot emphasize this enough, that now is the time," Backo said.
The Fort Worth Animal Care & Control is facing a similar dilemma.
With more than 2,800 animals entering the shelter in the last two months alone, they're facing a shortage of kennel space.
The Fort Worth shelter is asking for help to foster or adopt medium and large dogs, as well as cats.
Tim Morton is Fort Worth's Code Compliance assistant director and oversees the Animal Care & Control Services. In a press release, he said that fostering animals makes a huge difference — without the long-term commitment of adoption.
“Fostering opens up kennel space to make room for the steady intake of new pets coming into the shelter each day. Right now, every single kennel is priceless," he said.
Dallas Animal Services and Fort Worth Animal Care & Control have both resumed in-person adoptions. All pet adoptions are free, and animals all come spayed or neutered, microchipped and with current vaccinations.
Got a tip? Email Rebekah Morr at rmorr@kera.org. You can follow her on Twitter @bekah_morr.
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