There is a crisis at Charlotte’s government-run animal shelter.
For years, staff at the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Animal Care and Control shelter have warned that space is running out as a growing number of dogs and cats are turned in to the shelter, all while adoptions have slowed.
This week, the shelter told The Charlotte Ledger that more animals are in the shelter now than at any point in the past five years.
The crunch for space means staff are having to euthanize more animals than before — more than 600 already this year.
A shelter communications and outreach manager, Melissa Knicely, joined WFAE's Nick de la Canal to discuss the situation and the emotional toll it's having on staff.
De la Canal: As someone who's working inside the shelter, how would you describe the current situation?
Knicely: I would probably use the word chaotic and that I choose that word because calls for service in the field are high. The intake obviously we've talked about is high. We have renovations going on and it's the busiest time of the year that animals shelters typically across the country see the most animal intake in the summer months, so chaotic is probably a good word in a perfect storm. It's hurricane season, and I feel like sometimes we just keep having hurricanes that are coming through.
De la Canal: I understand many shelters around the country are full right now and it seems like a change from a few years ago when we saw a huge surge in people adopting pets during the pandemic. Has something changed or why has this crisis become so dire now?
Knicely: The difference is look how many more people move to Charlotte. So you're normally going to see your intake rise as your human population rises. Also, you have to factor in the economy and the price costs that have increased not only for like supplies but vet bills, dog food, cat food, things like that. But you also want to look at housing cosst because a lot of times people are moving to a new home and the pet deposits and the monthly pet fees will then price them out of being able to keep their pet. So just when you're looking simply at people’s, their budgets, sometimes the pet, unfortunately, is the thing that they decide that they can no longer afford.
De la Canal: The shelter was built 30 years ago. It's now undergoing a renovation. Will that help?
Knicely: So the renovations basically are to fix compliant issues. They're not necessarily to add more kennels. So when people think, you know, the renovations, I think they're tending to think that we're getting bigger because we have more intake. It's actually just the way the shelter is laid out and the way that we work is going to be better.
De la Canal: As I said earlier, the overcrowding means staff have to make more decisions about euthanizing animals. What kind of an emotional toll does that take on staff?
Knicely: So this is always the hard question to ask. It's tremendously hard. You have a couple of people that are really the final ones that are making the decisions and that are going over each animal and reading all of the behavior notes, all the medical notes, looking at the length of stay, looking at their kennel presence. And having to actually literally make a list for what we're going to euthanize. It's tremendously hard for the team that makes the decisions. And then you have your team including the kennel attendants who have to go get those dogs that they've been caring for, some of the long terms they've been caring for for a couple of months. Then the kennel attendants who've been taking care of them are the very ones that have to walk them to the euthanasia room to say goodbye to them. And then you have your technicians who actually have to then perform the humane euthanasia. And it literally keeps you up at night. And I'm sure if it keeps me up at night, then how about the people that are hands-on? And how about the people that are making the euthanasia decisions? So it's not good. It's hard. I don't really even know the right words to say, but it is definitely a huge emotional toll on all of the staff and the volunteers.
De la Canal: I know the shelter is trying out a couple of different solutions like sending pets to stay with foster families and not accepting dog surrenders right now, but what do you think needs to happen to improve the situation in the long term? Do you think that the shelter needs to build more space or to try to expand foster families?
Knicely: So I think both. My worry is also that building more kennels, you still are needing the community to adopt. And I do know that a lot of people want a specific breed and sometimes you don't find them in shelters as quickly as you would if you go to a breeder. But I really would love to see more of the community adopting shelter animals. If you've always had a dog from a breeder, you know, maybe get your dog from a breeder and maybe come and get it a companion from the shelter. I always like to say when you adopt one or you foster one, you're really helping more than just that one because you're opening up another space at the shelter for one that needs it.
