'Unprecedented' numbers saturate Maricopa County animal shelters

Valley animal organizations asked the community for help as an unusual number of pets have filled rescues and shelters.

"Right now we're facing numbers that are pretty unprecedented for this time of year," said Kelsey Dickerson, spokesperson for the Arizona Humane Society.

Dickerson said shelters have reported negative room numbers every morning for the past weeks and have had to find ways to accommodate the increasing number of injured and abused pets that come in every day.

"In the summer months, the Arizona Humane Society especially is used to the overcapacity that we're seeing," she said. "But this is something we've had to get really creative with the fall and winter months because it is usually not as huge of a problem."

According to Dickerson, animal rescues being overcapacity is affecting the whole country as many people have surrendered their pets following financial hardships stemming from the pandemic.

"People are losing their homes, they're losing their jobs, they are having medical emergencies pop up, and of course one of the first things that happen is that they are not able to take care of their pets," she said.

Added to that problem, Dickerson said the eviction moratorium is affecting pet owners who have nowhere to go.

"'I think right now we're seeing it because a lot more evictions are happening," she said.

Dickerson said that in response, the Arizona Humane Society has worked with other nonprofits that offer healthcare and housing resources as this can also support animal welfare efforts, she said.

"We're talking about not only not evicting these people but also the importance of not having breed restrictions or even pet restrictions in the first place," she said.

Amber Fitzpatrick with Small Dog Arizona, a local dog shelter in Phoenix, said they usually hold about 20 dogs during this time of year. Right now they are taking care of more than 50 pets.

Fitzpatrick said Maricopa County Animal Care and Control facilities are full, and all the other animal rescues are starting to overflow as a result.

"We just need help in every possible way," she said.

"We need people to adopt dogs so we have more room for other dogs that we can help, we need people to help foster dogs so there's less dogs stuffed in the shelter, and we always need volunteers to give the dogs a little bit of extra social time."

More information about how to donate, volunteer or foster pets at Arizona Humane Society and Small Dog Arizona can be found at azhumane.org and azsmalldog.org.

Reach breaking news reporter Laura Daniella Sepulveda at [email protected] or on Twitter @lauradNews.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: 'Unprecedented' numbers saturate Maricopa County animal shelters