Oshkosh Area Humane Society 'desperately' seeking help after exceeding cat capacity, 300% increase in impounded animals
OSHKOSH ‒ The Oshkosh Area Humane Society has exceeded its capacity after taking in 55 cats over the last week.
Jessica Miller, the executive director of OAHS, said they are asking the community for help in finding homes for the animals.
"We desperately need adopters, foster homes and supplies," she said.
The shelter can host about 150 cats and kittens at a time, but Miller said there is currently a "crisis" for the shelter with too many animals to host comfortably.
The news comes four months after the shelter saw a 33% increase in stray dogs this summer. It also is at a rate she has not seen in her decade of working with the organization, and she thinks the pet welfare industry across the country is facing a similar crisis.
Miller said she and others in the industry had speculated on the after-effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, and thinks those impacts are "coming to the surface."
While everyone was stuck at home at the start of the pandemic, she said many families decided to take in pets. As people returned to work and school, she said those pets may no longer fit into their lives.
The pandemic also meant animals had less socialization opportunities with other animals or humans, making them more reactive and potentially more challenging to rehome.
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Those issues, combined with rising living costs due to inflation, a nationwide vet shortage that has made it tougher for animals to receive care and a housing market that has made it tougher to find "pet-friendly" housing ― either due to a lack of affordable options or restrictions or fees added to rent ― have all "snowballed" to make it incredibly tough, Miller said.
Miller said the shelter has also seen a 300% increase of impounded animals, either from abandonments or evictions. Recently, the shelter took in more than 40 animals from one household from a "situation that got out of hand," she said, and one local recently helped bring in 13 cats after a neighbor family moved out.
Things have gotten so crowded across the country that most shelters are facing tough decisions, including potentially euthanizing health animals.
"Right now all shelters are crowded everywhere," said Jennifer Ollanketo, OAHS admissions manager, in a news release. "Animals just keep coming in and there aren’t enough going out.”
Miller said the best way for people to help is fostering animals temporarily or adopting. Alternatively, the shelter is seeking donations of canned cat food, replacement formula for kittens or other items that can be found on a list at the shelter's website.
Since costs have gone up across the board, she said monetary donations are also appreciated. For more information on how to help, visit oahs.org.
Contact Bremen Keasey at 920-570-5614 or bkeasey@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @Keasinho.
This article originally appeared on Oshkosh Northwestern: Oshkosh humane society hits cat capacity and 'desperately' seeks help
