SALT LAKE CITY — Some animal shelters in Utah are at full capacity and asking Utahns to come adopt or foster pets.
Salt Lake County Animal Services recently posted on social media that their shelters are full, which can bring many challenges.
Jami Johanson, the associate division director for Salt Lake County Animal Services, said they are currently finding solutions.
“We're actually working on getting an overflow building right now,” Johanson said. "It's going to be a minimum of 16 kennels. But for right now, currently we're not doubled up on kennels, but if we had to, worst case scenario is we could double up on our kennels.”
Getting a new building can be costly, however, and Juli Ulvestad, the pet resource center director for the Humane Society of Utah, said nonprofits can sometimes step in.
“What most municipal organizations do is they ask nonprofits, private nonprofits like the Humane Society of Utah, to transfer animals in. So we do quite a lot to try and relieve some of the overcrowding so they can continue to take in stray animals or dangerous animals or injured animals,” Ulvestad said.
Ulvestad said they also take in owner surrenders, which can put them at capacity quicker and sometimes lead to drastic measures.
“I've seen some shelters where they're housing animals in pop-up crates in the hallways, which is not great care, and they don't know what else to do,” she said. “They're keeping animals in their offices; we’ve had to do that here sometimes, too.”
Ulvestad said overcrowding runs the risk of many of the animals getting sick, which creates even higher bills on top of supply costs.
Johanson said the best way to help is to consider adoption, or even fostering a pet.
“Getting dogs and cats into foster homes allows another kennel to be free for another animal to use that,” Johanson said.
Sometimes overcrowding can impact adoption fees, but Johanson said they try to make adoption affordable for everyone.
“Our adoption fees are extremely reasonable. So we try not to let that ever impact why somebody couldn't adopt,” Johanson said.
While the county is a no-kill shelter, Ulvestad said others sometimes have to make the difficult decision whether to euthanize or not.
She encourages families to adopt or reconsider when it comes to surrendering their pet.
“They feel like they should surrender because there's somebody out there who's better than they are. And I just, I want to say, with a full heart and very sincerely that your pet would rather stay with you,” Ulvestad said.
Johanson said they have been fundraising for the new building and are looking for donations on top of a reserved fund Salt Lake County Animal Services already has.
For more information on pet adoption, visit the county website or the Humane Society website.
