Walking into the Wake County Animal Center, visitors hear dozens of dogs barking and see countless pairs of eyes staring at them. Many kennels fill each room, and concrete walls amplify the sound to a cacophony as every dog clamors for attention.
It’s overwhelming, but shelters have no other choice but to keep dogs in these conditions to keep them alive.
In one of Wake County Animal Center’s dog rooms, which currently holds 12 dogs, community outreach coordinator Meagan Frost gestures to a kennel holding a brown dog. She says the room is meant to hold only six dogs, but by splitting the kennels in two, they could keep more on the adoption floor.
“If it comes down to euthanizing an adoptable animal to make space or packing them in like little sardines, we’re going to pack them in like little sardines,” Frost says.
Last month, the Wake County Animal Center reported it was over capacity, to the point it may have to euthanize adoptable animals for the first time in eight years. It’s not the first time the shelter reported getting dangerously close to this point. In January, February, and April, the shelter published press releases emphasizing the urgency of adoptions.
And it’s not the only shelter in the Triangle, or the state, or the country, currently facing this problem.
In 2023 alone, the United States’ shelter population boomed by nearly a quarter million. It might be easy to assume this boom in shelter population is a result of the pandemic, when one in five American households chose to adopt a pet, according to the ASPCA. However, both the ASPCA and Frost say otherwise.
“A lot of what we’re seeing is inability to afford care, and the ability to afford even basic care, especially medical care and emergency type situations,” Frost says.
The New York Times reported vet bills have skyrocketed over 60 percent over the last decade, faster than the United States’ inflation rate.
Anthony Blikslager, associate dean of veterinary medical services and professor of equine surgery at NC State University’s Veterinary College, says this isn’t a choice but a necessity to match rising medical equipment prices, postpandemic staff shortages, and wages to accommodate rising costs of living.
“Every time I take a price increase to our hospital board, it’s a long discussion, because nobody wants to do it,” Blikslager says. “Nobody wants to place a barrier on medical care.”
Couple the increasing cost of care with the expense of living in the Triangle, where living wages are over $10 higher than North Carolina’s minimum wage of $7.25 per hour, and it’s easy to see the financial barrier to pet ownership.
Alongside cost of care, Frost says the housing market is another culprit of dropping adoption rates, especially for large dogs.
“Landlords have realized that they can [decide to] not take animals anymore,” Frost says. “They can have breed and size bans, or have it be so expensive that it’s worth it for the landlord to accept a pet because you’re gonna be paying a $500 nonrefundable pet deposit, then you’re gonna be paying another $50 a month per pet just to have your pet.”
Frost says the housing crisis has worsened to the point that, in order to keep their pets, some owners lose their housing.
“People are staying in dangerous situations longer or are ending up in dangerous situations because there is no safety net for pets in Wake County,” Frost says. “You have to give up your pet. Right now there is no shelter for people that are unhoused where they can bring their pets.”
As a result, animals are staying in animal shelters longer, especially the large dogs landlords often ban. These “breed bans” often target dogs commonly found in shelters, such as pit bulls, which comprise less than 6 percent of the U.S. dog population but an estimated 70 percent of dogs in U.S. shelters.
Frost says that dogs are staying four days longer on average. Considering that the shelter takes in 3,000 to 4,000 dogs a year, four additional days is far from ideal. Last year, the center, per day on average, took in 22 animals but only adopted out nine, a statistic that remains true in 2024. Combined with a longer stay, it’s clear where the population bottleneck comes from.
In June 2023, Orange County Animal Services in Chapel Hill announced on its Facebook page that it had reached full capacity for housing dogs. Although the shelter has not reached full capacity yet this year, it is about five to 10 dogs away from it, says Tenille Fox, communications specialist at the shelter.
Similar to Wake County’s Animal Center, the shelter has experienced a discrepancy in the number of people adopting dogs, specifically larger breeds, compared to the number of people adopting cats. In 2022, while 61.6 percent of dogs were adopted, 85.1 percent of cats were, discounting trap, neuter, and release programs.
There are 64 dogs in the shelter’s care as of July 11, with a few in foster homes. Fox says the shelter is on high alert anytime the number of animals grows close to 60. However, assessing the shelter’s capacity goes beyond a number—the type of animal and the care they require are also important factors considered, Fox says.
“If we have a lot of dogs that are having a lot of medical issues and need extra care and extra medical attention as opposed to just routine care and routine medical, then that obviously is a bigger strain on resources but also on staffing,” she says.
Frost says the overcrowding doesn’t strain only physical resources but the staff themselves, whose numbers remain the same despite the increase in pets and the demanding nature of their jobs.
“[Animals] sometimes want to bite us, they’re afraid of us, they don’t want to do what we’re asking them to do,” Frost says. “It can be very emotional, mental and physical. Imagine every single day you’re coming in you have to clean every single one of those kennels before we open up here at seven. All those kennels have to be done, and you have to take your lunch and be back by noon when the adoption floor opens, because then you have to help all the visitors.”
Between stressed staff, crowded animals, and factors outside of anyone’s control, lessening the pressure on shelters might seem like an impossible task. But shelters are taking steps to work toward emptying their kennels.
Wake County leaders recently approved seven new staff positions for the Wake County Animal Center. A new facility, currently under construction, will eventually provide more room compared to the shelter’s current 28-year-old building, though both of these solutions will take time.
The Wake County Animal Center is addressing its immediate needs through adoption specials. The decision to drop adoption fees to $0 from June 28 to July 7 helped alleviate some pressure on the shelter, but after the end of the promotion period, the overflow returned. As a result, the shelter extended the promotion with the goal of avoiding euthanizing for space.
To avoid reaching full capacity for dogs again, Orange County Animal Services is taking several steps, including ramping up its foster dog program, which Fox says has helped significantly reduce overcrowding in the shelter. For the first time, the shelter is partnering with the BISSELL Pet Foundation’s “Summer National Empty the Shelters” adoption event. The shelter will offer a reduced adoption fee of $50 for most dogs and cats throughout July.
From August 10 to September 10, the shelter will participate in another nationwide adoption initiative from NBCUniversal Local in its 10th year, “Clear the Shelters,” and will reduce adoption fees. Fox says adoption specials often bring an uptick in adoptions at the shelter.
Orange County Animal Services’ rescue partners, including Animal Rescue in Durham and Cat Tales Rescue NC in Chapel Hill, are also helping with its capacity issues by taking animals for their programs, which is especially helpful for those who have medical or behavioral needs, Fox says. This month, the shelter received a $20,000 grant from the nonprofit Petco Love, one of its partners. In addition to helping with spay and neuter programs, the award will support shelter initiatives that avoid pet overpopulation.
Community members play an integral role in ensuring shelters don’t reach full capacity. Fox emphasized the importance of adoption, but she says the shelter appreciates any community involvement, such as volunteering or fostering an animal.
Volunteering is an essential part of keeping the shelter healthy. Whether it be through lessening the pressure on staff or simply helping to socialize dogs, volunteers provide a much-needed service.
In 2022, volunteers at the Wake County Animal Center worked 11,726 hours, a number adding up to nearly six additional full-time employees. The shelter recently hired a second volunteering coordinator to bolster the shelter’s already robust volunteering program. Even with this support, however, Frost says more volunteers are always needed.
Meanwhile, fostering is also integral to keeping animals healthy. Foster homes, Fox says, help with socialization and minimizing the spread of disease in the shelter.
In 2022, of the 8,298 animals the Wake County Animal Center took in, 1,118 were placed into foster programs, or 13.5 percent of the shelter’s overall intake. Frost says the Wake County Animal Center’s hiring of a second foster coordinator will expand their foster program, potentially increasing the number of animals it can support.
For those who can’t foster or volunteer, there are other ways to help shelters.
Frost says one of the best ways to help shelters is to keep pets out of them, whether through microchipping, rehoming pets yourself, or helping others keep their animals. The idea of helping people keep their pets has become a priority in the rescue community over the last decade, according to Frost, where crowded shelters have resulted in an uptick of pet retention programs intended to help people keep their pets during hardship.
Additionally, pet owners can look into pet insurance to assist with medical costs. In 2024, Forbes reported that only about 4 percent of dogs and 1 percent of cats in the United States have insurance. Shelly Vaden, associate veterinary medical officer and professor of nephrology and urology at NCSU’s Veterinary College, says the difference in stress between an insured pet owner and an uninsured one is massive.
“When the clients come in that have their pets insured, all of a sudden that [financial burden] is not present,” Vaden says. “So they’re able to focus on what their pet needs and really look through the options that we’re talking about … rather than having that financial burden be the issue that is making their decisions for them.”
Donations also help shelters. Pet food, cages, and litter all benefit the shelter and its rescue partners. Frost says food for volunteers and staff is also helpful, since public dollars the shelter receives can’t be used for staff members’ food.
Frost says that right now shelters are doing everything they can on their own, but the Triangle community is the heart of pet rescues.
“We are constantly trying to save lives, but we can’t do it alone, and our rescue partners can’t do it alone,” Frost says. “If people have the bandwidth to help, we definitely need it.”
Adorable, Adoptable Triangle Shelter Underdogs
Comment on this story at [email protected].
You must be logged in to post a comment.