Prince George’s County Animal Shelter pauses taking owner-surrendered pets

Tyger Munn
·2 min read

UPPER MARLBORO, Md (DC News Now) – Starting Wednesday, the Prince George’s County Animal Shelter hit pause for the rest of the month when it comes to taking owner-surrendered pets. The shelter cited overcrowding and cleaning protocols to control disease as its reasons.

In January, the shelter closed due to an outbreak of Streptococcus Zooepidemicus, referred to as Strep Zoo. The disease is still impacting the center, causing them to shut down intake for the month.

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“Our facility continues to experience the same challenges as other shelters nationwide with diseases and the number of animals that come into our facility,” Animal Services Director David Fisher stated in a news release. “When faced with these challenges, our team shifts its operations to efficiently address the care and needs of the animals and staff.”

According to a statement released Monday, the shelter will help pet owners who want to surrender their pets with other options through different rescue partners who have the capacity to take the animals in.

Nelly Ortiz, an animal control officer, fears that pets will be abandoned anyways and many will be exposed to worse conditions.

“We will see more dumped animals, and some of these animals do not always make it,” Ortiz said. “My biggest concern, they end up with someone that might not mean well to them, like, might potentially abuse them. So that is my big concern when owner surrenders are not being accepted.”

The shelter wants to move over 100 animals from their facility by next week. They will also waive all adoption fees in hopes more pets can be taken from the shelter.

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Ortiz is happy for the new owners, but hopes they know the commitment that comes with owning a pet.

“Let’s say in three, two months, you realize like, wow, I have to walk my dogs twice a day. Wow, I have to take it to the vet. They then have to surrender them back to the shelter,” Ortiz said. “That’s just a lot for an animal emotionally.”

The suspended intake and waived fees will last until April 30.

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