SPRINGFIELD, MA (WGGB/WSHM) – The Thomas J. O’Connor Animal Control and Adoption Center in Springfield is facing a serious situation and, as the damage from Hurricane Helene continues to be felt down south, animal evacuees may soon flood into an already strained rescue system.
Currently, TJO is overloaded with dogs just on the local level and many of them are looking to be adopted. As of Monday, there were more than 52 dogs housed at TJO and 11 of them were up for adoption on their website. It’s a large number, to say the least, and it’s an amount that workers and volunteers are looking to reduce to a more manageable level for their limited space and resources. Heather Cahillane, TJO’s interim executive director, told Western Mass News that people surrendering their pets need to be more forthcoming with their situation.
“If, for some reason, you can’t keep your pet, the best thing you can do is to be honest and tell us what’s really going on, so we can move them through the system quicker,” Cahillane said.
She told us that many of the dogs were brought in as strays in the greater Springfield area and traditionally, to alleviate overcrowding, they are transferred out. However, other shelters and rescues are also dealing with a similar situation of too many dogs and not enough room, especially in light of the damage left behind by Hurricane Helene.
“We have been reaching out to rescue partners like crazy. We’re looking at trying to do some adoption events. We had several fee-waived events over the summer and that was very helpful, but we’re finding that numbers aren’t coming down,” Cahillane noted.
As a municipally funded animal shelter, they focus solely on animals from Chicopee, Springfield, and Holyoke and, at the moment, even if they wanted to help out with animals coming north from storm devasted areas, it would be impossible.
“…And right now, the need is so great, I don’t think we would even need to take from other places,” Cahillane said.
TJO does not euthanize for space and they want to keep it that way. You can CLICK HERE for more information on how you can adopt an animal or donate to TJO.
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