'We are full': Asheville Humane Society issues plea for animal adoptions

Sam DeGrave | The Citizen-Times

Show Caption Hide Caption Fees waived for older animals at Humane Society With their capacity exceeded, the Asheville Humane Society has waived adoption fees for all animals older than six months.

ASHEVILLE — Dogs occupy visitation rooms, stay in cages meant for temporary housing, and in kennels, two at a time are kept in space typically reserved for one.

Overcrowding from a surge in stray dogs and cats beyond what the Asheville Humane Society typically sees at its adoption center during the summer has pushed the organization to get creative in finding housing, including waiving adoption fees for all animals older than 6 months.

Temporarily waiving adoption fees - which start at $35 and can surpass $200 or more depending on the animal - isn't typical and highlights the extent of the problem, Humane Society spokeswoman Meredith Pitcairn said.

“We’re trying to show the community that this is urgent," Pitcairn said. "This is not a marketing tactic; we are full. If you’ve been thinking about adopting maybe now’s the time”

The Humane Society already has taken 6,800 animals this year fiscal year, which ends at the end of June. That's up 700 animals up from all of the previous fiscal year, or an 18 percent increase.

"We just need to get people here"

Pitcairn said that the waived-fee promotion is likely to start driving visitors through the doors after the news has had a chance to circulate.

Alex Day and her friend Andy Morrison hadn't heard about it, but they were at the shelter Thursday nonetheless. Morrison, who described himself as a "regular" of the shelter, recently had to euthanize his 11-year-old shih tzu Phooey and was at the Humane Society "just to look."

Day, on the other hand, was obviously there to pet. She made a new friend in a 4-month-old coon hound named Cypress, who seemed right at home in her lap.

Morrison said it was not likely he'd leave with a dog Thursday, and Day can't have a dog due to housing restrictions. But that's not a problem, according to Miranda Tipton, senior manager of placement and population care for the Humane Society.

"We just need to get people here," she said. "Our adoption floor offers a wealth of animals. We can find anybody a match."

For those looking to adopt, the Humane Society included in a Facebook post that "all adoptions include spay/neuter, microchip, all up-to-date vaccines, initial flea and heartworm preventive, a free starter bag of food, and a month of free pet health insurance!"

Too many dogs, not enough housing

Pitcairn said that older dogs and larger dogs, particularly those with high energy, are among those that are "staying longer than normal" contributing to the crowding.

This is at least in part due to pet restrictions in housing, according to Tipton — and borne out by Day.

Apartment prohibitions of certain breeds and dogs of a certain weight make it difficult for renters to adopt and have made it so that the shelter is "feeling the overcrowding the hardest" in its dog population, Tipton said.

Though the Asheville Humane Society never euthanizes animals due to space constraints, it can't hold all animals in ideal conditions once all the shelter space is taken. Some animals might have to be held in crates — a last-resort move for the Humane Society.

"If we get so many animals that we don’t have a place to put them — I hate to say it — but if we have to put an animal in a crate, that’s what we’ll have to do,” Pitcairn said.

On Thursday afternoon, the Humane Society had just moved two dogs out of crates, having freed up more space elsewhere, but the crates are bound to be full again soon, Tipton said.

"We've got dogs in places we typically don't"

Staff is handling the space crunch by alternate means as best it can.

"We've got dogs in places we typically don't have dogs," Tipton said as she walked through the Humane Society's expansive building located off of Brevard Road between I-26 and I-40. "We get creative here. We have to."

For dogs like Lucy — a quiet, mild-mannered, 1-year-old black and white bulldog-terrier mix with a great smile — the overcrowding has been a windfall of sorts. She is "the newest tenant" of one of the visitation rooms, which are more spacious than most temporary kennels, Tipton said.

The surge in the dog population hasn't been so great for others. Two-year-old Labaron, "your typical opinionated chihuahua" with a voice and a necktie — yes, he wears a necktie — to match his personality, is living in a temporary cage with other dogs in cages on both sides and beneath him. In other words, high-density housing.

The shelter is currently housing 41 dogs in a space built for 30, and it is responsible for another 147 dogs in foster care. It's currently housing 29 cats and has a designated space for only one more.

The crowding takes a toll on both the dogs and the shelter staff members who care for them, Tipton said.

"When you overcrowd, the dogs' stress level increases, they're more likely to get sick, and both those things increase behaviors that adopters don't want to see," Tipton said describing a brutal positive-feedback loop that's on display at the Humane Society. "It's rough on the staff, too. It's rough on everybody."

Most staff members, according to Tipton, are fostering animals to help alleviate the space problem. The shelter's director of programs has a litter of kittens living in her bathroom at home, Tipton said.

What's causing the crowding?

Humane Society staff members are unsure why they've gotten so many animals this year as compared to last.

The uptick is mainly due to an increase in the number of strays coming into the shelter after having been picked up by Animal Control or "good Samaritans," as Tipton calls them.

The summer months are typically some of the toughest for the shelter. It's during the summer that most kittens are born and the shelter gets more stray dogs than other seasons. As people get outside more, their dogs have more chances to escape and end up at the Humane Society.

The problem is made worse by the fact that adoptions are typically down in the summer. With kids out of school, families head out of town for vacation. "It's not a great time for everybody to adopt," Tipton said.

Shelter staff also expected more animals because of changes in the structure of Brother Wolf Animal Rescue, but they don't think that alone explains the extent of the influx, Pitcairn and Tipton said.

RELATED: Changes coming to Brother Wolf

For now, the cause of the crowding seems less a concern to staff than finding a solution to the problem. Though the Humane Society anticipates temporarily waiving adoption fees will help — as it did a year ago when staff reduced the kitten adoption fee by about half — the shelter's sorrows can only be quelled by aspiring adopters.

"We need people with open hearts and open minds," Tipton said. "All of our animals have stories. Some of them are long. Some of them are short. But they all deserve happy endings."