Shelter at capacity for dogs, urging adoptions

Deb Pressey, The News-Gazette, Champaign-Urbana, Ill.
·3 min read

Aug. 25—CHAMPAIGN — Could you give a poor dog a home?

There are more than four dozen homeless dogs at the Champaign County Humane Society that need to be adopted, and the need has grown more urgent in recent months.

That's because the humane society's new shelter is at capacity for the number of dogs it can keep, leaving it unable to accept any new transfers of dogs picked up by Champaign County Animal Control, according to humane society Executive Director Mary Tiefenbrunn.

The humane society tripled its space with its move to 4003 Kearns Drive, C, this past March, but it has kennels for only 50 dogs.

That number didn't grow with the move and is based on the adoption rate in the county, Tiefenbrunn said.

At the time the new shelter was designed and built, 50 kennels would have been plenty, because the number of dogs needing shelter had been going down, she said.

"Our numbers started going up in February," she said.

Since March, the homeless dog population at the shelter has held steady from 49 to 54, she said.

At that number, the humane society can still accept dogs from people who want to surrender their pets, though they must be scheduled out a week or two to wait for a space to open.

But, "we just end up never having any room to take transfers from animal control," Tiefenbrunn said.

The county's animal control operation isn't set up to do adoptions, so animals picked up that are unclaimed by their owners would typically be transferred to shelters such as the humane society.

Now such transfer routes for animal control operations are largely closed as animal shelters throughout Illinois and across the country are full.

Tiefenbrunn and Anna Payton, president of the Illinois Animal Welfare Federation, said inflation is one of the root causes of the current situation.

With prices of groceries and other consumables continuing to rise, some people can't afford to keep their dogs. Nor can some people afford to adopt dogs.

Some people are also unable to keep their homes and must move back in with parents or into rental properties that won't accept dogs, Payton said

Meanwhile, there are fewer takers for dogs — especially since many people already adopted dogs while they were staying home earlier in the pandemic, she said.

Plus, more people adopting dogs earlier in the pandemic means there are now more dog owners out there who want to surrender their pets, Tiefenbrunn said.

There's still another factor behind animal overpopulation: There's a national veterinarian and veterinary tech shortage, making it more challenging for shelters and pet owners to get their dogs spayed and neutered, Payton said. And some people simply can't afford to get their dogs spayed and neutered, leading to more unwanted puppies, she said.

The Champaign County Humane Society shelter currently has three litters of puppies, Tiefenbrunn said.

Neither the humane society nor animal control wants to have to euthanize animals that could be adopted, but operating at over-capacity also isn't an option either, given the added stress it places on the animals.

"It's frustrating," Tiefenbrunn said.

What she hopes for is more people willing to adopt.

To make it easier for people to adopt dogs, the Champaign County Humane Society plans to offer adoptions this weekend — both Saturday and Sunday — at reduced fees. The dog adoption fee will be cut to $25.

Another adoption weekend event will be scheduled soon for cats. Tiefenbrunn said the humane society currently has 147 cats in its care, "which is a lot."

Cat adoptions have been on hold for a time after two cats at the shelter had a contagious viral disease. But that hasn't grown into an outbreak, and cat adoptions are set to resume soon, Tiefenbrunn said.