Overcrowding at local pet rescue shelters has been an increasing problem since the Covid-19 pandemic.
Following an increase in adoptions during the pandemic, rising living costs and other factors have led to pet surrenders and abandonment.
Executive Director Chalan Lowry has seen an increase in animal intakes at the Portage Animal Protective League rescue shelter in recent years. She believes there are a few reasons for that: economic hardship from inflation, an increase in homelessness after the pandemic moratorium on evictions was lifted and a nationwide shortage of veterinarians, which has led to increased prices and long wait times to get animals neutered and spayed.
Some of the less fortunate dogs at the Dog Warden's shelter have been there over a year. Jeremy Brown/The Portager
“People can’t get in to get an appointment to get their animals fixed, or they can’t afford the cost, where maybe years ago we weren’t seeing that many. We’ve seen an uptick in more puppies and kittens being born, at least in our experience,” Lowry said.
Portage County Dog Warden’s Office and Shelter Director David McIntyre saw firsthand the rise in pet ownership during the pandemic that led to mass pet surrenders – when a pet owner is unable to care for their animal any longer and gives their pet to an animal rescue.
Portage County Dog Warden’s Office and Shelter Director David McIntyre said he has an excellent group of volunteers that walk the dogs, play with them and help re-adapt them to people. Jeremy Brown/The Portager
“We stopped taking on surrenders back in Covid,” McIntyre said. “When Covid came down, people were getting all these little puppies, because they were at home with the puppies all the time. But then when Covid went out and they started releasing some of the restrictions, people, all of a sudden these dogs, they didn’t want them anymore. They were no longer puppies, and all of a sudden they’re big dogs, and now they gotta take care of them and they weren’t.”
After the pandemic, McIntyre said he’s seen a rise in unruly dogs that have come into the shelter. He thinks that’s because people who adopted dogs during Covid eventually went back to work and left the dogs in a kennel with little love and attention.
There's a diverse variety of dogs available for adoption at the shelter.
“Honestly, a lot of the dogs we’re getting in here, some are really good, adoptable dogs, but we had there for a little while, we had a bunch of dogs that were never – they were just mean,” McIntyre said. “I think it was a matter of nobody taking the time to spend with them; they got them as a puppy and they grew out of the puppy stage. It’s been difficult. Once they grew out of that puppy stage, now we’re getting these 3-, 4-year-old dogs and we found that, hey, they just put them in a kennel out back and just let them loose and they’re not nice.”
The Portage Animal Protective League’s mission is to rescue animals that are victims of abuse, cruelty, injury and abandonment. The shelter also accepts animal surrenders on a case-by-case basis, but the APL can’t take them all.
“Dog adoptions are also down across the country,” Lowry said. “Dogs are sitting longer in shelters, which means we can’t take in when people need it, because animals aren’t moving out as fast, which means that we have wait lists for people that need to surrender. And that often results in animals being dumped, because we don’t have space, and someone else doesn't have space, and they don’t know what to do. People [at shelters] are having to humanely euthanize animals that there’s no space for to make room for other animals.”
The Portage APL shelter doesn’t euthanize animals, so when it’s at full capacity, it declines admittance of pet surrenders. In that case, staff members recommend nearby rescue shelters to pet owners. The Portage APL advises pet owners who need to surrender their pet to start calling shelters at least 30 days prior to any deadline to have a better chance of getting on a waiting list.
Last year, the Portage APL accepted animals from about 10 local and regional shelters to keep them from being euthanized. In that same year, it provided pet food to 180 families who endured economic hardship as well as answered 1,300 complaints of abuse and cruelty. Recently, the shelter rescued a dog that was found bleeding from gunshot wounds at a railway in Ravenna.
“We recently had a dog that was shot multiple times and left on the railroad tracks to die. Briggs is his name,” Lowry said. “We thought he was hit by a train. When our staff person got there to pick him up, he had a gunshot wound to his head. Our rescue vehicle immediately took him to the emergency vet, where he stayed for five days or six days. When they examined him, they realized his abdomen also had a really large [gunshot] wound. His entire abdomen and legs were purple with blood, internal bleeding, all that stuff. It is an open investigation and we’re still trying to find out the details of who’s responsible for this. He’s a good boy. We get a lot of these cases.”
For anyone looking to adopt a pet from a local shelter, there are an abundance of dogs and cats that need a forever home.
“I think people have the expectation that when they come to a shelter that they’re going to find the perfect dog, and I just hope people will be open-minded about the idea that these dogs came from a variety of situations, and sometimes they take a little longer to adjust, but that doesn’t mean they’re broken. It doesn’t mean they’re not awesome,” Lowry said. “It just means sometimes it takes a little while, but they’re worth it.”
One way to help
Vicky DiMichele, a volunteer dog walker at the Portage County Dog Warden’s Office and Shelter, has been trying to help some of her favorite dogs at the shelter get adopted by writing books about them.
DiMichele wrote her first book about a rescue dog shortly after she began volunteering at the shelter a little over a year ago: “Big Chuck’s Big Adventure.”
“It was this dog I absolutely loved, Big Chuck. He was at the shelter and I got to play with him,” DiMichele said. “He was too big and too strong for me to personally take home, but I wanted to do something to get his name out there, and he did get adopted, so I was happy with that.”
Part of the method DiMichele uses to write her books is to get to know the dogs and use their character traits to shape the story. For example, she wrote “Boomer Goes To The Moon” after she walked Boomer and learned that he likes to jump really high.
Book proceeds go toward the cost of adoption, but that isn’t disclosed to potential adopters. DiMichele said the storybook dogs might not go to the right home if the adopter knows the dog is free or cheaper than the other dogs.
DiMichele has written nine books so far. The most recent one is “Monkey's Big Adventure,” which can be purchased online.