MILWAUKEE — In six days, the Milwaukee Area Domestic Animal Control Commission received 110 dogs.
Kate Heartlund, MADACC’S community engagement and volunteer coordinator, said while the shelter is at full capacity, they’re not turning away any animals.
Heartlund said she is unsure why there’s an influx of animals just after the new year.
“Some of the reasons we’re full right now, we do have a few cruelty and neglect cases that have been sitting a little bit longer,” said Heartlund. “Those dogs take up space. I looked at the numbers last year and we had about 93 dogs come in the same time as last year, but I think we weren’t as full in shelter at the time.”
She said a full shelter can take a toll not only on the animals but on the staff and volunteers.
“The staff gets super stressed out,” said Heartlund. “One of our kennel workers has 82 dogs to take care of every day. Those are her rooms she takes care of. That’s a lot on a person. The dogs can get stressed out faster because there’s always commotion and it’s never quiet. Disease spreads much faster when we’re this crowded.”
In situations like this, Heartlund said volunteers make a big impact. Moe Kewiatkowski tries to come in a few times a week to spend time with the animals.
“Because they don’t have a voice and someone needs to be here to help them and to walk them and give them exercise so they’re not in the kennel all day,” said Kewiatkowski. “If we don’t have volunteers, the dogs don’t get to get out. If we don’t have volunteers to do enrichment, they don’t get fun toys throughout the day.”
Heartlund said there are many ways to help, first by claiming your animal if they’re missing. She said people can also help by volunteering, donating, adopting, fostering or sharing social media posts online.
“We can’t do it ourselves,” said Heartlund. “We can’t. It is a community problem and we need the community’s help.”
For more information on how you can help, click here.
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