CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Charlotte-Mecklenburg Animal Care & Control reported this month it is critically overcrowded.
Staff sent out a plea last week for community members to adopt, foster, or even take an animal on a 'staycation' to alleviate packed kennels and crates.
One claim spreading online is about how many animals the facility euthanizes on a daily basis.
THE QUESTION
Did CMPD Animal Care & Control euthanize dozens of cats and dogs every day in June and July?
OUR SOURCES
- Melissa Knicely with CMPD Animal Care & Control
- The facility's euthanasia data from June and July 2022
THE ANSWER
No, CMPD Animal Care & Control didn't euthanize dozens of cats and dogs every day in June and July.
WHAT WE FOUND
It's true that the facility has to put down animals every week, and the overcrowding in recent months is forcing tougher decisions.
"The reasons can either be from a space-behavior-type combination," Knicely said. "The fuller we get, the harder the decisions get."
In all of June, Animal Care & Control numbers show it put down 213 animals.
July 1 through July 22 showed 283 animals euthanized.
So over that period of time, it averages out to just over nine animals a day, but the true counts each day vary.
"It could be that there's only going to be six," Knicely said. "And so instead of doing three on one day and three on another day, we do them all on one day so it gives our folks in the back a day they don't have to put down any animals. It's very tough."
Over the last two months, the agency's data shows some higher outliers.
On July 20 and 21, CMPD Animal Care & Control put down more than 50 animals those days, according to records. Most of those animals were cats impacted by the shelter's feline panleukopenia outbreak.
Otherwise, WCNC Charlotte could find only three days in June and three in July when more than 12 animals were euthanized.
Contact Vanessa Ruffes at vruffes@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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