City News

Animal shelter overcrowded again following holiday

Posted July 9, 2012
Updated July 16, 2012

Animal Care & Control again is asking for community support following another spike in the number of homeless and abandoned animals at its shelter.

Like many other cities across the Dallas/Fort Worth area, the Fort Worth shelter is experiencing ongoing overcrowding. Following last week’s Independence Day holiday, the shelter found itself approximately 150 animals over capacity.

In spite of adoptions and the efforts of rescue groups, the shelter population has continued to increase as more animals were brought in following the latest spike.

“We were hopeful that the significantly higher intake numbers we experienced in May and June were a brief anomaly, but it now appears that shelter overcrowding has become a systemic issue,” said Brandon Scott Bennett, Code Compliance Department director. “We’ve been working diligently over these past few years to implement new programs to help us increase adoptions and rescues and, as a result, we’ve been proud to say we haven’t had to euthanize healthy adoptable animals since April 2010.” 

But that streak appears to be nearing an end as shelter officials are forced to consider euthanizing healthy animals.

[Update 6:10 p.m. July 12, 2012: Thanks to the efforts of the community and rescue groups, the shelter experienced higher-than-average adoptions today. With high intake levels expected to continue through the summer, officials say the shelter will be over capacity for the next few weeks.]

“This has been one of our toughest weeks,” Bennett said, “but we know with the continued support of our rescue groups, PetSmart Charities and others, we’ll move forward and implement new programs that will help us to save the lives of more animals.”

About City Adoption/Rescue Programs

Fort Worth opened its first PetSmart Charities Adoption Center in April 2010, and saw adoptions increase by 121 percent. With the addition of a second center in December 2011, adoptions grew by an additional 91 percent. In total, the city has seen nearly 8,200 adoptions in a little over two years.

The city also has reached out to rescue organizations to save even more lives. Prior to May 2011, the shelter averaged 87 rescues a month. Over the past six months, the shelter is averaging 241 rescues per month.

“It took time, diligence and community support to make as big of a change as we have, but we are realistic and know that there is still more work to be done,” Bennett said.

For more information, visit the Animal Care & Control adoption page or call 817-392-PETS (7387).

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