The Oregon Humane Society has sent more than a hundred animals into foster homes over the last two weeks, emptying at least 30 dog kennels and creating space at an offsite facility that can house approximately 100 cats.

With fewer animals onsite, the organization, the largest humane society in the Northwest, has been able to send volunteers home and move to appointment-only adoptions as they implement social distancing measures and adhere to guidelines from the State of Oregon.

But the shelter also is preparing for the possibility of an influx of animals coming in due to the continued spread of the novel coronavirus.

“I think what’s important to recognize is that animal shelters are key players in any disaster response, and we’re reducing our shelter population via adoptions, via foster homes in order to get ready for what the community needs in the future,” said Sharon Harmon, president and CEO of the Oregon Humane Society. “When people lose their jobs, when their health is compromised, pets don’t always stay in the family, and we need to be ready to take care of those pets.”

Like the Oregon Humane Society, shelters across the Northwest have rushed to empty their facilities to be ready to respond to the needs of the community during the coronavirus crisis.

Wade Sadler, Director of Multnomah County Animal Services, said the county had opened up space at the shelter to support residents who need emergency boarding due to hospitalization. They are requiring that emergency boarding cases be referred to them by a hospital caseworker.

Sarah Williams, shelter manager at the Newberg Animal Shelter, said that the organization had gone from having between 120 and 180 animals onsite to just 15 as they’ve sent animals into foster homes and stopped accepting transfers from shelters out of state. Along with potentially seeing an influx of surrenders due to illness and financial hardship, Williams is anticipating an increase in the local animal population because spay and neuter programs within Oregon have been halted following an order by Gov. Kate Brown that prevents health-care providers from conducting non-emergency procedures.

But while the Newberg Animal Shelter is prepared to take in more animals from the community if necessary, Williams said the priority was to work with families to keep animals in homes whenever possible.

“As a shelter, it would be our goal to find solutions to help families before taking owner surrenders,” Williams said. “So, if they’re struggling to find food or those sorts of things, on our end, we’ll do what we can to help a family stay intact, rather than have them surrender the animal to us.”

Randy Covey, the manager of Washington County Animal Services and the Bonnie L. Hays Animal Shelter, has been working with other members of the Animal Shelter Alliance of Portland to put together a program that would allow people to donate dog and cat food that can be passed along to families in need.

“We’re talking about things, like providing pet food for people that might not otherwise be able to purchase it because of layoffs or things of that nature,” Covey said. “We’re very much looking forward to the opportunity to help people keep their pets at home throughout this entire event.”

But while they prepare to aid their communities during the coronavirus crisis, many shelters are navigating financial hardships of their own.

The Oregon Humane Society was forced to postpone Doggie Dash, a fundraiser that brings in almost $1 million annually to the organization. The Newberg Animal Shelter has canceled its spring fundraisers as well and has been forced to reduce staff hours to maintain social distancing.

The Humane Society for Southwest Washington shut down its thrift store, which generates $1.5 million in total revenue annually, to abide by orders from the state. After Washington Gov. Jay Inslee issued a stay-at-home order Monday, the shelter temporarily discontinued adoptions as well. They’ve been forced to lay off 41 people and move others to half time due to the change in operations.

“We had to completely retool how we do our operations, so we could reduce the number of staff we had at the shelter in order to keep the financial viability of the organization,” said Stacey Graham, president of the Humane Society for Southwest Washington.

During their time of need, shelters have seen a tremendous outpouring of support from people in their communities willing to open their homes to foster animals. There have been heartwarming stories of creative foster drive-through events at shelters across the country.

“Shelters put out a call for foster families and adoptions because many of them are closing and have limited resources now and because they needed to have space to bring in animals in case people are hospitalized or need to surrender their pets,” said Kimberley Alboum, director of shelter outreach and policy engagement at the Humane Society of the United States. “There’s been a call out for fosters and adoptions across the country and the result of that has been absolutely tremendous.”

But many shelters in the Northwest are no longer in need of foster homes.

While the Humane Society for Southwest Washington and the Newberg Animal Shelter are still taking information from people willing to foster animals, Harmon said the Oregon Humane Society has been inundated with requests. She said the organization will put out a call in the future if they end up needing emergency foster homes and is asking residents interested in fostering to reach out to other shelters at this time.

Instead, what many shelters are asking for are donations of dog and cat food and litter, as well as monetary support to keep them up and running during the crisis and ensure that they can maintain the space and staffing necessary to respond to emergency requests stemming from the coronavirus.

“If push comes to shove, we may very well need the community’s support to do direct animal care,” Harmon said. “But really what we need the community to do now is continue to provide us with the funds that frankly, we need to keep our doors open and keep our employees ready to provide service today.”

-- Jamie Goldberg | jgoldberg@oregonian.com | @jamiebgoldberg

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