‘At a breaking point’: Wichita pet shelters at full capacity, asking for help

The Kansas Humane Society put out a call for help on social media Thursday, saying they’re at a “breaking point.”

Both the Humane Society and the Wichita Animal Shelter are at maximum capacity, with new dogs and cats arriving every day. To help combat the problem, the Humane Society has reduced adoption fees for adult dogs. Most fees are $49 and below, according to the Facebook post. On Saturday, all adult dog fees will be $25. Typically, the adoption fee is around $180.

Wichita has been dealing with a mass overpopulation issue for a while now, according to Kansas Humane Society CEO Emily Hurst.

“We’ve been kind of living on that edge, you know, of just trying to save every possible life we can while dealing with overpopulation,” Hurst said.

During the pandemic, spay and neuter surgeries were considered “elective.”

“While we’re already living on the brink of overpopulation, nothing was getting spayed and neutered for a little over a year and a half I think, so now we’re seeing the results of that,” Hurst said.

The Wichita Animal Shelter is taking in more pets than ever before this time of year. They currently have 288 pets, which is 30-40% above normal, Animal Control Supervisor Dennis Graves said.

“Every year when the weather warms up and more people are out being active, less people are, you know, home bound,” Graves said. “The population at the animal shelter will pick up. This year, we’ve just seen a pretty sharp increase in the amount of animals that are being brought in and dropped off.”

This can affect the Humane Society, Hurst said.

Whenever someone’s lost pet gets turned into the shelter and no one comes to reclaim it, KHS takes the pet and puts it up for adoption. Currently, only about 30% of dogs get reclaimed by their owners at the shelter, which leads to a lot more dogs ending up at KHS.

“There’s only so much physical space at the shelter, our shelter is completely maxed out, their shelter is maxed out,” Hurst said.

The easiest solution would be more adoptions. However, Hurst understands why someone may not be able to take in a pet. For the people who want to help but can’t adopt, KHS is asking for donations.

“It costs us about $220 per every healthy dog that comes through our care,” Hurt said. “When we reduce the adoption fee … We have to try to raise donations so that we can pay for all of that care.”

Another way to help with overcrowding is fostering.

“They just go to our website, fill out a quick application, watch a short video and then our foster coordinator connects with them, learns about what kind of animal they’d be willing to take [and] how long they could take it for,” Hurst said.

Graves said it’s important to make sure pets are spayed and neutered, kept up-to-date on their shots and have the proper identification.

“Make sure they have identification ... so that they can get their phone call home if they show up here,” Graves said.

This story was originally published June 16, 2022 at 5:35 PM.