Shelters in Crisis

Prince, a happy & energetic mixed breed puppy, loved spending his days with his new family. They were the only people he knew, his only play mates, and the ones he snuggled up with to feel safe at night. His owners were his whole world. However, he was not theirs. One day his owners put him in the car for a drive. Prince wondered where they were going this time. Would it be the dog park? He couldn’t wait to run around and play with his friends!

Suddenly the car came to a stop. Prince’s owners seemed to be in a rush to get him out, but when he was out he didn’t see the dog park. He smelled dogs, but all he could see was a large building. When he entered, there were lots of animals, but they were all in cages. “We would like surrender Prince,” he heard his owners say. Surrender, he thought, what does that mean?

The next thing he knew he was in a cage and would never see his family again. He would spend his days in an overcrowded shelter, wondering what he did wrong to be abandoned by his favorite people in the whole world.

This is sadly the story of many animals all around our country. According to statistics, roughly 6.5 million animals enter shelters each year but only 3.2 million are adopted. This leads to severe overcrowding issues in animal shelters, and our shelters in Scioto County are feeling the effects.

Sierra’s Haven for New & Used Pets is the largest no kill shelter in our area. The volunteers at the shelter work frivolously day and night to care for the animals that are surrendered to their organization. However, their job has become increasingly harder over the past several years.

According to statistics, surrender requests had increased 4% in the fourth quarter of 2022 compared to the same period in 2021. Inflation and housing issues are driving the increase, according to ASPCA and local shelters.

Shelters are seeing an alarming number of “easy” pets being surrendered at their facilities. Easy meaning these pets are older animals who get along with kids and other dogs and are typically well behaved.

Experts believe that this spike in surrendered pets is due to inflation, as well as the number of pet owners who are electing not to spay or neuter their pets.

So, what can you do to help? The first thing we are asking all of you to do is to consider adopting! If you are looking to add a new addition to your family, our shelters are filled with excellent candidates. We suggest that you take a look at your finances before adopting to ensure you can afford the addition. Please do not shop for a pet at a pet store or with an expensive breeder, as our local shelters our filled with loving pets awaiting adoption.

Our next suggestion for those who may not be able to adopt at the moment is to foster a shelter pet or volunteer at your local shelter. If you would like to request further information we suggest contacting Sierra’s Haven at (740) 353-5100.