By Jerika L.H
The Front Street Animal Shelter kicked off Free Adoption June in a desperate effort to find homes for the overflow of pets which have recently been left at the shelter. Quickly escalating to crisis level, the Sacramento shelter no longer has space for any incoming animals, which means people turned away from surrendering their pets may make the unfortunate choice to dump animals on the streets – or worse.
The shelter’s facebook plea did not fall on deaf ears, as it was shared over 163,000 times and garnered over 3.8 million views. An update on the situation divulged that the crisis statement effectively brought in four times the amount in normal donations, and over fifty animals were adopted within the day. The Lodi Animal Shelter followed Front Street’s lead and made a similar plea, as they were also inundated with unwanted pets and had nowhere to house them.
Unfortunately, the Lodi Animal Shelter’s urgent need for special relief has put them in a difficult position, as they stated that if enough animals were not adopted by 4p.m yesterday, they would have to be euthanized. Police Sergeant Jennifer Bender was quoted as saying “[This is] really serious. And yes, we were going to euthanize. Unfortunately, we had too many animals to house.” Luckily, the dreaded ‘E-word’ did not become a reality, as support flooded in. The shelter received several donations, in addition to offers to foster as well as a few forever home adoptions.
The crisis is far from over, as 4th of July fireworks sends a record number of pets to the shelter every year, as they often run away from home in fear and get picked up by city officials.
Both shelters are still in dire need of help from the public. Sadly, this is part of a larger trend, as countless other shelters in the tri-county area over overly full.
If you’ve been considering adopting a dog or cat, now is the time to do it. Please contact your nearest shelter to save a life.
I went to the Yolo and Front Street shelters. Nothing but Pits and Chihuahuas. Ended up getting a mutt from Renee at Rotts of Friends. That is an awesome rescue.
Pit mixes make damn good dogs… have had two… they love pretty much all dogs and people, and love active play… or are you talking aesthetics?
The fact is, people are the problem… they don’t spay fix/neuter/spay their animals…
Feral cats are even a bigger problem than dogs…
You are correct though, that ‘mutts’, ‘mixed breed’, ‘Heinz 57’, etc., are the best… they tend to have less serious health problems than ‘full-breds’… and better personalities…
I like Pits. I also like Mustangs but I would be very very careful about buying a used one.
This piece (at least the title) could be a metaphor for those in town, who believe Davis residential limits have reached capacity…
No more admittees, unless others move out or ‘pass’…
I hope not…
Howard P(et lover), it makes my tail wag that you adopt pit-mixes!
We could require that people adopt a dog if they find housing for themselves…. srsly, curious how many landlords here dis-allow dogs or add ridiculous charges. Curious how many people would adopt or least foster dogs if their landlords allowed it…
In Utopia landlords cannot have a blanket ban on dogs… oh, what… I mean in Germany. Also, all public transport allows dogs. http://bit.ly/2rWJ68Y
Some of the homes in the Cannery have a kind of half-height dog room near the kitchen. Curious how many people in the Cannery would adopt dogs if they could walk to North Davis.