Economic woes are hitting shelter animals hard, as would-be adopters struggle with rising costs, housing insecurity, and the difficulty of finding affordable veterinary care. The result is that animal shelters across the country are at capacity. Some shelters have even re-instituted the practice of euthanizing for lack of space.
Mendocino County Animal Shelter is not destroying animals to make room at this time, but dog lovers had a scare late last month when eight large-breed dogs were placed on a euthanasia list. The list was quickly mothballed, but the shelter is still pleading with people to foster and adopt animals.
Becca Edwards is the dog kennel manager for the Humane Society of Inland Mendocino County in Redwood Valley. On a Friday afternoon, most of the eighty or so dogs under her care were in foster homes, ready to come pouring back in for their chance at adoption over the weekend. Edwards says permanent homes are in short supply.
“It’s not so much that we’re seeing more animals coming in,” she said. “The numbers are pretty consistent. It’s that we’re not having the same outcomes. Since the pandemic, people are also struggling, so keeping animals, or getting animals, is probably not top of their priority list at the moment. So we’re seeing less outcomes, more intakes. During the pandemic… any adoptable animal here was gone within days, especially puppies, small dogs, they were just flying out the doors. What we’re seeing now is not so much the returns, but the halting of that process, because people are just not feeling secure in bringing on a new family member. Or they don’t have the financial resources or housing. Our returns have stayed pretty consistent. We usually get a couple a month coming back to us. I think animals are just not having the easy way out that they used to.”
Jane Baldwin is the assistant manager at the Milo Foundation Sanctuary outside of Willits, on a sprawling 285-acre property with a variety of animals. The sanctuary is at capacity with about 120 dogs, two pigs, about thirty cats, a hibernating turtle, and a goat suffering from CL, a chronic bacterial disease that afflicts goats and sheep. “If you would like him,” Baldwin said of the goat, “He’s lonely.” All the animals are up for adoption.
Baldwin says some of the dogs come from shelters in other parts of the state, where they are in danger of being euthanized. “We get lots of mamas with very young puppies, and if we don’t take them, they're just going to euthanize all of them,” she said. “So it’s an absolute crisis. It’s like if there’s an earthquake and a flood and a wildfire all at the same time, that’s what it is. There’s just so many nice, nice dogs, and there are just too many. We are doing the best we can, and that’s why we really want people to foster. Because if you foster one dog, that makes a spot for another dog that we can save.”
There are dogs in the house and the backyard and the office, as well as in kennels all over the property. One new arrival is a large young male brindle with a happy disposition who was rescued from Creekside Cabins, which was recently evacuated.
Baldwin recognizes that economic hardship and housing insecurity play a large role in the animals’ plight. “We get a lot of people who want to surrender their dog because they have to move,” she said. “Everybody knows about the housing crisis.”
Baldwin also points to the high cost of spay neuter services, and a shortage of veterinarians. In an email, Richard Molinari, the Animal Shelter Director for Mendocino County, wrote that for almost two years, animal shelters were instructed to not perform (spay neuter surgeries), then perform” them at a lower level. He added that, “We here at Animal Care Services only conducted approximately 2000 surgeries in 2020 and 2000 in 2021. Prior years we did approximately 3000 a year,” which he believes led to more animals being born.
He noted that, “Inflation has played a part into this equation as well. It costs approximately $1,400 a year to keep a dog…when finances are hard, pets are the first to go.”
A lot of dogs take a circuitous route to their final homes, like my dog Chance. He was one of those less-charismatic adult dogs who was picked up in Covelo by Bones Pet Rescue, taken to the county shelter, then to the Humane Society in Redwood Valley. Other dogs, with recognizable breed characteristics, used to find their niche with breed-specific rescues. But Edwards says that’s not the case anymore.
“Before, when we’d have German Shepherd surrenders, we’d tell them to contact German Shepherd rescues,” she recalls. “But they’re all full. So we’re not getting that same outlet for these breeds.” And shelters have to be aware of the resources that go into dogs that are a little more difficult. “When we have a behavior case, we’re very sensitive to the fact that that specific dog or dogs need our time. Piling them on will not service the ones we currently have, so we have to be careful. But we’re always drawn to the Chance-type dogs, who just need some understanding to get through.” When I noted that she spotted a sucker when I came through the door the day I left with Chance, she did not contradict me.
At the Milo Foundation Sanctuary, Baldwin described providing as much of a home-like situation as possible. A small-breed new mother and her four puppies live in one part of the office, while an old deaf dog has taken up a position under the desk. Baldwin continued the inventory. “We have several adoptable dogs living in the house, and in the backyard. Sometimes we have a mama and babies living in the bathroom in the house. But most of the dogs don’t get enough attention. That’s the problem. And when they’re here for much time, they begin to be less adoptable.”
Edwards added to the needs list by describing what adopters need, once they get an animal that may need some adjusting to life in a civilized home. “We need low cost spay and neuter,” she began. “We need programs that support keeping pets in homes. We need behavior support for issues. We just need to support people, so that the people can keep the pets.”
“Anything you can do to help us help the animals,” Baldwin concluded. “It’s totally worth it.”
The Humane Society of Inland Mendocino County is at 9700 Uva Drive in Redwood Valley. Their phone number is (707) 485-0123.
The Milo Foundation is open by appointment only at milofoundation.org or (707) 459-4900.
The Mendocino County animal shelters are at 298 Plant Road in Ukiah (707) 463-4427 and 19691 Summers Lane in Fort Bragg, (707) 964-7729. They are open by appointment only.
