The Broward County Animal Care shelter is struggling to care for the dozens of cats and dogs still waiting to find a forever home. Now, officials at the Dania Beach facility are incentivizing the community to help relieve their overcrowding crisis.
Until Dec. 15, officials say they are waiving adoption fees to make it easier for families thinking about adoption to save money and welcome new pets into their homes. The only fee residents must pay is a $25 registration fee that the county requires.
“Our populations in our shelters are staying at full capacity or over capacity, pretty much all the time now. And we’re just looking for all the different ways to try to get people to come in and bring these pets back into their families,” said Director of Broward County Animal Care Doug Brightwell.
Officials hope these calls for action prompt people to either adopt or foster as the county deals with overcrowded shelters.
“The sterilization is done, vaccinations are done, the microchip is done. Everything is done, and they are ready to go home and be a permanent part of your family,” said Brightwell.
They say the issue is due to a high number of large dogs and cats coming in, especially during the holiday season, and to not enough adoptions.
“Since COVID, the number of animals that are coming in every year seems just to continue to increase year over year, but the adoption rate and rescue rates are not keeping up at the same rate,” said Brightwell.
While the issue of overcrowded shelters is a nationwide problem, Broward officials are trying to tackle it on a local level.
“This is the time and place to do it because we’ve got a lot of great dogs and cats who are ready to go home. They just need you to come and make that match and make them part of your family,” said Brightwell.
Officials say that because of overcrowding, animals could get very stressed and anxious.
“It’s very difficult because you can only take care of animals that you have the adequate space, staff, and medical capacity to care for, so you can’t warehouse animals just for the sake of warehousing them because you have to be able to provide the appropriate level of care, needs, medical, food, everything,” said Brightwell.
The shelter is open seven days a week with some exceptions.
For information on adopting, fostering or supporting shelter pets, click here or call 954-357-9758.
Available pets can be viewed here.