Humane Society seeing fewer animals being brought to the shelter
CHILLICOTHE — After a record-breaking year of adoptions in 2020, the Ross County Humane Society has seen a decrease in activity over the last few months.
Director Jenn Thomas said adoptions and intake both declined over the course of 2021.
"It is eerily quiet out here now, and we have maybe 13 dogs in the building," Thomas said. "We're not seeing as many strays, I don't know why that is. And, we actually saw a decrease in the number of dogs that the dog warden brought us last year."
The decrease in dogs brought in by the dog warden was by about 20% compared to 2020, according to Thomas.
Despite the dip in numbers from the dog warden, Thomas said she sees the decrease as a positive.
"I don't know if our spay and neuter initiatives are helping or people are just better at keeping their dogs at home," she added. "I think the dog warden brought us 580 and we took in about 1,300 total. So the rest were either dogs we took in on surrender or transfer from other organizations or dogs that the public found as strays and brought in to us."
At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Thomas said the Humane Society saw record adoption numbers. In 2020, over 1,000 animals were adopted through the Humane Society, compared to approximately 700 in 2021.
Thomas said very few animals that were adopted during the pandemic have been returned to the Humane Society.
"We didn't see a ton of returns from COVID, like when people were going back to work," she added. "I think people were less likely to come and get a dog last year, but I think it's because people were traveling and people were trying tog get back to some sense of normalcy. I think adopting a dog was just maybe not as high on everybody's radar."
The Humane Society also doesn't see many animals being returned after being adopted for the holiday season.
"We try to be a pretty door with people. We understand that sometimes, people are going to make mistakes," Thomas said. "They're going to get a pet they're not prepared for and we would rather them reach out to us for help and return the dog, rather than send it to someone elsewhere it might get tied out to a chain, left to roam, or whatever the case may be."
Thomas said while some families may adopt a puppy as a holiday gift, returns are fairly low within the first month. However, if a family does decide to return their holiday adoption, it typically occurs several months after when the dog has grown.
"Within probably nine to 12 months, if we're going to see them back, it's at that point," she said. "A lot of the time it's because it's either gotten bigger than they thought and a lot of times we don't know how big dogs are going to get... They may have behaviors and they haven't taken the time to train them or housebreak them."
This article originally appeared on Chillicothe Gazette: 2021 a quieter year for Ross County Humane Society
