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Jerry Fallstrom/staff

/Orlando Sentinel/TNS Students will walk dogs at Lake\u2019s animal shelter in Tavares.

One Florida county’s landmark moment, an empty kennel at its animal control shelter, is representative of a trend with more families welcome animals into their home as the nation battles the coronavirus pandemic.

With more people staying in there homes, Florida animal shelters are finding their kennels to be more empty. That was the case in Palm Beach County, and celebrated by the Friends of Palm Beach County Animal Care and Control, who posted a video to its Facebook page showing that its kennel was empty for the first time in its history.

While not empty, Central Florida shelters have been seeing more foster families and forever home adoptions since coronavirus concerns began spreading in March.

Lake County has seen the amount of foster families double since this time last year, said Whitney Boylston, spokeswoman of Lake County Animal Shelter.

“Our census is way down,” Boylston said. “We’ve seen massive numbers in adoptions and fosters. More people are at home and have more time to spend with a new pet, or maybe there’s just more people looking at how they can help the community, even if it’s just temporary."

Currently, Lake has 49 dogs, 24 cats, one pig and one cow available for adoption. Under normal circumstances, it has double that amount on any given day.

Since March 1, Lake has had 90 animals stay with families as part of its shelter break sleepovers, where families foster an animal for about month. In 2019, the shelter only had 45 animals out on sleepovers during the same time period, Bolyston said.

While Seminole County Animal Services couldn’t confirm at the time exactly how many animals it had, the shelter said its numbers were significantly down, as well, with an estimated 50 dogs in its kennels.

For Palm Beach County, its animal control kennel reached its milestone moment on Tuesday when all of its kennels were vacant due to either adoptions or fosters.

“An incredible and joyful thing happened today....For the first time in the history of Palm Beach County Animal Care and Control, we have a completely EMPTY kennel,” the Facebook post read.

On March 1 the shelter had 93 cats, 157 dogs, 13 rabbits, one pig and one goat. Some animals were sent to partner adoption organizations, but 30 cats, 71 dogs, a chicken, a rabbit and pig were all adopted.

About 26 pets are in foster care, but the shelter’s animal inventory is down 300 animals compared to March of 2019, Palm Beach Animal Care told the Orlando Sentinel.

To celebrate, the staff and volunteers stood in the unoccupied kennels and gave a round of applause on video to the community for helping so many pets out.

“We hope the momentum continues and encourages other communities to consider fostering and adopting as well,” a member with the Palm Beach Animal Care page said. “I think it’s been a combination of things really, but mainly due to the inherent good nature of people, their desire to want to help and do good, and the companionship and joy a pet brings to someone.”

Orange County Animal Services closed its doors on March 27 to the public as the threat of coronavirus increased, and only medical and care teams were allowed to keep reporting inside the building. They currently have 99 animals at the facility, and 100 animals with foster families. While adoptions have not been proceeding since the end of March, Orange is unrolling its virtual adoption program Thursday morning, according to Orange County Animal Services manager, Diane Summers.

Their website will have an album of ready to adopt pets; about 15 cats and 10 dogs who are all spayed, neutered, vaccinated and microchipped. Users can browse through the selection, and arrange a virtual hangout with the shelter or foster family via Zoom or FaceTime, Summers said.

“This is a brand new thing for us, so we’re letting foster families participate on an opt-in basis for those who are tech savvy,” Summers said. “We’re trying to create a process in which people can adopt with as little contact as possible... Last night [Wednesday], we teased it on our Facebook, and got a lot of interest. We’re really excited about it."

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