BALDWIN, Md. — It’s a situation that has never happened before at Baltimore County Animal Services. As an illness spreads at BARCS, the city shelter isn’t able to take in any new dogs. The county is taking them in.
“At the request of Baltimore City Animal Control, Baltimore County Animal Services will now be housing all non-emergency dogs that the city animal control seizes,” Abigail Isaacs with Baltimore County Animal Services said. “And that is in effect now until Wednesday when other partnering organizations are able to step in and help as well.”
BARCS announced Thursday that the shelter has seen a rise in cases of Canine Infectious Respiratory Disease Complex over the past several weeks. Some of those cases are not responding to treatment and have progressed to pneuomnia, which the shelter says requires isolation and more extensive treatment. The medical team will reevaluate in two weeks but for now, the shelter doesn’t want to expose any new dogs to the illness, and is focusing on caring for the sick dogs.
“We would hope if we were to ask for help with something like this as well, that our partners would step up, and so we’re really here to fill this need right now,” Isaacs said.
But it does mean more stress on the staff at the county shelter, who have already been dealing with a big influx of animals coming into their care since the start of the year. Isaacs anticipates they’ll take in an additional two to four dogs a day from the city.
“But we really don’t exactly know the number, and still that’s upwards of 24 extra dogs coming into our care, in addition to all of the owner surrenders and strays that we take in from Baltimore County.”
So if you’ve ever wanted to foster or adopt a dog, now’s as good a time as any. Baltimore County Animal Services doesn’t usually offer adoptions on Mondays, but this Monday, Jan. 20 they will be open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. All fees will be waived.
“Especially because it’s a holiday weekend, maybe you’re off on Monday, if you can take a dog for a long weekend and help us out, foster them, that would really be appreciated. And the other way people can help is, if you find a stray dog in your community, you are allowed to hold that dog for up to 72 hours in your home while actively trying to reunite it with their family. So that keeps the dog from coming into the shelter unless you’re unable to find their family.”
Donna Ward already answered the call. Her family is bringing home a second Norwegian Elkhound. They brought their dog, Smokey, in on Friday morning to meet Nora. The pair got along, so Nora now has a forever home.
“I’ve been reading where they’ve just been overpopulated with so many dogs. We hadn’t really wanted to go adopt a dog but two is better than one so now we’re gonna have two dogs and it does make us feel better that there’s more space for somebody else,” Ward said.
Baltimore County Animal Services is only accepting dogs through a partnership with Baltimore City Animal Control. The shelter is not taking drop-offs from city residents. If you need help with a stray animal or surrendering an animal, contact Baltimore City Animal Control directly.
BARCS posted more resources and ways to help on Facebook.
On Friday afternoon, BARCS announced that “long-time friends of BARCS Betsy Sherman and The Sherman Family Foundation have generously pledged a $20,000 matching gift to the BARCS Medical Care Fund, doubling every donation we receive from today through Friday, January 24.
On average, treatment costs for each sick dog range from $530–$780, with additional expenses for dogs requiring emergency hospitalization as well as extra PPE and other medical supplies. Some cases have progressed to pneumonia despite treatment, necessitating intensive care and isolation—significantly increasing BARCS’ medical expenses to save their lives. Donations to the Medical Care Fund ensure these dogs receive the critical care they need and help BARCS move closer to safely reopening for intakes.”
This post was originally published on this site be sure to check out more of their content.
