Local animal shelters struggle as adoption rates go down

Shelters in Albuquerque are struggling to keep up with an influx of animals.

Although it is typical for shelters to experience seasonal booms, many have said in recent years that things got worse after the Fourth of July, which is notorious to city animal shelters as the worst day of the year, according to Deputy Director of Albuquerque Animal Welfare Jack Hagerman.

Meanwhile, adoption rates are the lowest they have been in a long time. Shelters are begging for help from the community now more than ever . If things don’t change, officials say, many of these animals will not receive the help they need, and some may even be put down.

How shelters are doing now

More animals are coming in than ever before as adoption rates continue to decrease. As of last Thursday, according to Animal Welfare Marketing Manager Desiree Cawley, there were 911 animals across three shelters — Westside, Eastside and Lucky Paws inside Coronado Center — in Albuquerque and at least 592 pets in foster care.

Cawley said the ideal total number of pets in the shelters is 750.

Similarly, the Bernalillo County Animal Care and Resource Center shelter currently has 247 animals and 51 animals in foster care, according to Tiffany Chamble, engagement and outreach manager for Bernalillo County Animal Care Services. The ideal number for the shelter is 111.

Chamble said it is difficult for staff to feed, clean, care and walk all the animals at the shelter’s staffing level.

“Most people think capacity is about kennel space, but you also have to consider capacity of care, and staffing plays into that as well,” Hagerman said.

Foster care for pets means that individuals can provide a temporary refuge for pets, allowing them to live outside of the shelter for a while. This benefits the pets because, according to Hagerman, stress levels in animals dramatically decrease while in foster care and can alleviate behavioral issues exhibited in the shelter.

“We get into a situation where we have to double or triple up the animals because we just don’t have enough space,” Hagerman said. “And that is not an ideal or humane situation.”

Jacqueline Gallegos, an animal transporter, said the staff is trying to find ways to soothe the animals while they are in long-term care.

“We’ve installed speakers in some of the rooms that play music to relax the animals,” she said. “We did a ‘scent of the day,’ where we spray the cages with a scent to give them enrichment, and we installed treat containers so each time somebody walks by they can give the pet a treat.”

Bernalillo County Animal Shelter is challenging the community to help clear the shelters, including community engagements like the Pie Faceoff challenge or the upcoming water balloon splash-out, during which animals have a number of water balloons attached to them and when they get adopted, the community gets to partake in water balloon fights.

The shelters are dancing the line between too many animals. If they don’t receive some relief soon, shelter workers are worried they will have to start putting down animals.

“We’re very fortunate that we haven’t gotten into a situation yet where we are having to euthanize so much more, but it is getting very challenging,” Hagerman said.

Last year, New Mexico saved nearly 66,600 of the animals that entered its shelters, according to a report by the Best Friends Animal Society, a nonprofit organization that provides sanctuary for homeless animals and is attempting to make all shelters no-kill by 2025. If 12,624 more people choose adoption when adding a new pet to their home, every shelter in New Mexico can be no-kill, the organization says.

According to Carolyn Thompson, adoption counselor at Animal Welfare’s Eastside shelter, the staff goes through evaluations to see if an animal needs to put down.

“The only time we seriously consider putting an animal down is if we notice they’re deteriorating (by) being here,” she said. “If we notice an animal’s quality of life is going down and if we’ve tried every way to get them adopted like big pushes or social media, we go through an evaluation with a panel where they go through a checklist of ways to help the animal. If someone in the shelter decides to fight to keep the animal alive, the panel considers what they say.”

What about adoption rates?

According to Hagerman, adoption rates dropping is one of the biggest reasons shelters are overwhelmed. There has been a 7% increase of animals coming into intake since the pandemic and a yearly 7% decrease in animals being adopted. This means adoption rates have dropped nearly 30% since the pandemic.

Meanwhile, people are reconsidering whether adopting a furry friend is a fiscally appropriate decision. Pets require food, toys and veterinary care. For many right now, this does not fit into their budget. The more people who question whether they can afford a pet, the fewer homes pets have as a livable option.

Hagerman said he has noticed that in New Mexico, people are less willing to neuter or spay their animals than in other states, which leads to what he calls “’oops breeding.”

“So they keep intact pets and let them roam around in areas where they can find other intact animals and reproduce. Now you have a litter of puppies you don’t know what to do with, so they end up at the shelter,” Hagerman said.

Hagerman feels that many New Mexicans are uneducated about the impact of failing to spay or neuter. Doing this procedure on a pet can help prevent certain types of cancers and behavioral issues such as increased aggression — and protect the community.

“I think we need to do a better job at educating the public,” Hagerman said. “Shelters have been beating the drum telling people to spay and neuter to keep the population under control, but it seems like a lot of people disengage with it because they believe it’s not their problem. But we need to explain that it is a community and animal health issue because it changes their minds a little bit.”

Shelter staff have noticed that many people who surrender their animals have noted housing being their biggest barrier in getting or keeping a pet.

“Housing is so competitive in Albuquerque right now that so many landlords won’t even let people with pets in, so we’re getting a lot of people who feel they have to surrender their pets so they can have a place to live,” said Carolyn Thompson, adoption counselor at the Eastside Shelter.

Shelter workers also believe housing is a reason why larger pets stay noticeably longer in shelters than small pets.

“Landlords can put weight restrictions on housing, so that makes it more difficult for people to take in larger dogs,” said intake specialist Marina Thomas.

Another issue shelter workers are noticing is many people surrender their pets without considering if they have other options. Shelters ask residents to schedule an appointment to surrender their dog to see if they might be able to offer solutions. They have a variety of resources for affordable food or fixing fences, for example, to try and keep a pet in its home.

“Most of the time, people don’t know they have those other options available to them so they think, ‘Well I can’t do this by myself, I just have to surrender,’ and I find that to be the case more often than not,” Hagerman said.

The future for animal shelters

Cawley said it will take four to five years to get the shelters stabilized. However, shelter workers have hope.

Bernalillo County is running a free vaccine and microchip clinic every other Wednesday to help pet owners with the financial stress of medical care. There are also programs within the shelters that can help with food, medical services and training.

“The good moments keep me here,” Thompson said. “I spend a lot of time worrying, but I also spend a lot of time being happy for the animals that get adopted.”