SANTA ROSA COUNTY, Fla. — Santa Rosa County Animal Services is busting at the seem with more animals than space.
The shelter has had to get creative just to find a place for the pets.
Research from Shelter Animals Count shows across America, 322,000 more pets have come in to shelters than have been adopted. Overall, cat and dog adoptions are down four percent compared to this time last year.
“I started here in August and I immediately took one of the dogs home, Ms. Jelly,” Natalie Wagner said. “I immediately foster failed her.”
Wagner knows a thing or two about animals, as she has 20 years veterinary experience.
Once she found out how slammed the Santa Rosa County shelter is, she didn’t hesitate to help.
“I currently have two kittens I had from bottle babies, so I have to wake up with them every few hours to feed and everything like that,” she said. “We’re foster failing them as well.”
This kind of failure is actually counted as success, as they’re keeping animals out of kennels.
“We consistently stay pretty full, but we’re really maxed out right now,” said Randy Lambert, chief of animal services in Santa Rosa County.
Maxed out may be an understatement.
As of Friday, Lambert says Santa Rosa County Animal Services has 160 dogs — but only 63 in foster homes.
The problem is they only have enough crates for 70 on site. So they’re forced to find a new way.
“Our lobby is full, as you can see,” Lambert said. “We have them here in the lobby. We have them in office areas. We have them stacked up everywhere.”
With everything from young Rottweilers like Dallas to a blue and brown eyed beauty named Twitch, there’s a pup for pretty much everyone.
“It’s very simple to foster,” Wagner said. “They give you all the supplies you need. You don’t have to buy anything. You just get it right from here.”
“All the way down to the food,” he added. “The medical care needed, support needed and even food is what you need.”
Alyssa Triplett’s fostered a few. She says the benefits go both ways.
And if you’re lucky, you could be a permanent player even without adopting.
“Your friends and family are going to see them. They might fall in love with them and then by the time they get back to the shelter, they already have a home,” she said.
Lambert says this is also a problem with cats, as they have a lot of them. However, they tend to get fostered much easier.
PAWS in Okaloosa County says they’re in the same boat as the Santa Rosa County shelter. They have 165 dogs on-site with only 70 kennels. That doesn’t include the ones they have in foster homes.
Escambia County has 195 dogs with 120 kennel spaces.
Both are doing whatever they can to free up space and asking everyone to foster or adopt, if they can.
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