CHARLOTTE, N.C. — CMPD Animal Care and Control is calling on community members to open their homes to homeless pets this summer, as necessary construction in possibly a matter of weeks could remove dozens of critical spaces for a period of time.
The project, which is not adding kennel space but only brings the shelter up to code, comes as the shelter is already swimming in cats and, especially, dogs.
"We're stretched very thin," Josh Fisher, the shelter's executive director, said.
New numbers from the shelter show part of the problem appears to be economic, with dogs coming in because their owner was evicted more than doubling since the same timeframe last year.
Lost and abandoned dogs entering the shelter are at their highest levels in five years.
Meantime, the number of dogs getting adopted so far this year has sunk from 2021 and 2022, with a 20% decrease from last year to this year.
"When we get too full, and we have nowhere to put animals, we have to make euthanasia decisions, and we don't want to make those," Melissa Knicely, communications director for the shelter, said. "Nobody wants to make those."
The shelter said there are several barriers to getting and keeping dogs in homes:
- Housing options: A boom in apartments, which frequently come with breed restrictions, can limit adoptability of its dogs. CMPD reports 70% to 75% of its shelter dogs are on banned breed lists.
- Rising pet care costs: The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports, in April, the cost of adopting and caring for a pet rose more than 10% from the year before.
- Growing metro area: The rising people population translates to a rising pet population, and an increased opportunity for lost, stray and surrendered pets. Meantime, data from the city of Charlotte and U.S. Census data show Charlotte's population has roughly doubled in the 30 years since its shelter was first built.
The shelter has released seven main ways to help during its time of need, including fostering, staycations, adoptions, and microchipping pets.
CMPD is also unveiling a new kennel dashboard, which it will update on its website Mondays and Fridays, so the public can stay regularly informed on fluctuating capacity and when some of those services, like fostering, might be most needed.
Top five most urgent dogs
The shelter's new dashboard will share the five most "urgent" dogs at the time of this update. These are dogs considered priorities to exit the shelter, usually because of the length of stay in the kennels.
As of Tuesday, the following dogs were considered most urgent:
Ginger
Dino
Carlos
Joe
GG
Contact Vanessa Ruffes at vruffes@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.