San Francisco Shelter Makes Plea for Senior Pups To Have a Home for the Holidays
A non-profit San Francisco dog rescue for pups over the age of seven wants to bring in 100 dogs from shelters in need over ten days and find those dogs homes for the holidays.
The shelter, Muttville, offers support for senior shelter dogs who are struggling to get adopted.
NBCBayArea.Com reports, "Just in the last month, I received three separate urgent shelter help emails that were different than they had been before, [saying] 'we’re starting to have to euthanize adoptable dogs for space because we’ve run out of space,'" she said.
Muttville decided to make a concerted effort to bring in more dogs all at once, they set a goal to bring in 100 senior dogs over 10 days. The rescue is aiming to immediately get these dogs ready for adoption or foster homes.
Related: Senior Dog Sanctuary Makes Plea to Help Dogs Being Discarded by Unethical Breeder
Since Monday, December 4, Muttville says it has brought in 50 dogs, 33 of which have already been adopted. Muttville plans to receive 25 more dogs this Monday and then 25 more dogs between Tuesday and Wednesday.
Why animal shelters are in crisis mode
Animal shelters all across the United States could use our help, whether that be volunteering, fostering, adopting or making a monetary donation. A shortage of shelters workers, fosters and veterinarians is making the crisis worse, and with shelters overcrowded, a lot of shelters are having to resort to euthanasia.
In November of this year, CBS News reported that in New York City, the number of surrendered pets is up 20% this year, while a shelter in Fulton County, Georgia is operating at 400% capacity. Detroit is planning to double the capacity of its shelters to keep pace.
Stephanie Filer, who runs Shelter Animals Count, a group that tracks animal shelter populations, said the situation is "beyond crisis mode."
"It's really at a breaking point where the system can't continue this way for much longer," Filer said.
Filer added that the surge appears to be largely driven by economic factors like the lifting of eviction moratoriums and rising housing costs.
If you aren't planning on adopting or volunteering, one way you can help shelter overcrowding is to have your own dog or cat spayed or neutered. This helps stem the influx of unwanted pets that end up in shelters and sometimes, end up euthanized. There are low-cost or free spay/neuter clinics in many shelters in cities across America, so if you need help contact your local shelter for information.
If you are in the SF bay area and would like to give one of these beautiful Muttville pups a forever home, you can find more information here.
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