CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Animal Care & Control division of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department said it has halted owner surrenders of dogs, as of Tuesday, Dec. 20.
The shelter reports critical levels of kennel capacity, with 282 dogs in the system.
Of those dogs, 208 are housed on-site in the kennels, 27 are on staycations, which are short-term breaks from the shelter, and 47 are with foster parents. Melissa Knicely, the communications and outreach manager at AC&C, said the need for the community to adopt, foster or staycation dogs is urgent.
“On a day that we are happy to have 20 dog adoptions/fosters going out the door, at the same time we have 15 strays/owner surrenders coming in and sadly we see no light at the end of this very long tunnel," she said.
The overabundance of dogs means staff will likely have to make decisions to euthanize dogs to make room.
“We simply do not have room for them, said Dr. John Fisher, director of the animal care division. “AC&C officers are doing everything they can to get lost pets home in the community before bringing them into the shelter, but between lost dogs that we are unable to find an owner, long-term case dogs, and dogs that pose a public safety risk to our community, our kennels are at capacity.”
North Carolina law states that lost or stray animals must be held at a shelter for at least 72 hours to ensure the pet owner has a chance to find them.
Owners who have already made an appointment to surrender their dogs will get a call from AC&C to cancel. Additionally, website links will be shared for owners to list pets for adoption, a guide for making adoption flyers, and places for those flyers to be shared.
AC&C urges pet owners to ensure their animals are spayed and neutered, are microchipped, and wear an identification tag at all times. If a lost pet is found, you're asked to take the animal to a vet or to a Microchip Checkpoint Station to have it scanned for a chip.
Animal lovers are encouraged to foster if possible or adopt if they can.
AC&C is running an adoption special on all animals through Dec. 31, with all adoption fees waived when a financial donation is made.
