TUCSON, Ariz. (13 News) – The Pima Animal Care Center has been telling residents for months that it is beyond critical capacity with dogs in the shelter and the worst-case scenario is starting to come true.
This week, 11 dogs are on the euthanasia list with three of those dogs’ with Monday deadlines.
There are 541 dogs in the shelter with more dogs coming in each day.
“We are getting more dogs than ever before come through our doors and we’re having fewer people come in who are willing to adopt or foster, particularly a large dog,” said PACC Placement Manager Katie Hutchinson.
PACC said this is the busiest time of year for them to receive more dogs, and with some extra hot months extending the mating season, there were more puppies than usual — putting more dogs on the list.
13 News spoke with a concerned citizen who wished to remain anonymous who said the communication on deadlines for these dogs on the euthanasia list has been less than ideal… most recently with them having concerns about a dog named Oswald.
“Yesterday there seemed to be a lot of questioning of whether Oswald was euthanized, of whether he was allowed some extra time, a day more,” the citizen said.
Unfortunately, Oswald was euthanized in the morning, something community members attribute to that lack of communication over the weekend.
“If everybody could have better communication and trust,” the citizen said. “It’s a highly volatile situation meaning when there’s a life at stake on all levels.”
PACC said for those interested in saving a dog, especially on the weekends, while social media is a good start, timeliness is everything.
“Sometimes, people try to reach out or call but when a dog’s on deadline the best thing you can do is just come down,” Hutchinson said. “An hour can make a difference for a dog.”
They also said more community involvement could be the difference between life and death.
“One of the greatest things about PACC too is once we have our census deadlines get instituted,” Hutchinson said, “if our community rallies together and lowers the capacity back down to 450 dogs, we will remove all of those census deadlines at that time.”
The dogs on the urgent placement list don’t have to be adopted they can also be fostered. You can find the full list of dogs on the urgent placement list HERE.
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