The dog kennels at both campuses of the Humane Society of Tampa Bay are almost at capacity.
Organization officials said adoptions are dropping as the cost of living continues going up.
And when people aren’t adopting, shelters start to fill up.
As a result, they stopped taking in new dogs over 30 lbs. until some space freed up.
The Humane Society is a no-kill organization, which means that animals stay in the shelters until they are adopted.
Because of this, its kennels can quickly run out of space if people aren’t adopting shelter dogs.
ALSO READ: The Humane Society of Tampa Bay is experiencing an overflow, in part due to the cost of keeping pets
Public Relations Manager Regan Blessinger said this forced them to turn away people with strays or dogs they can’t afford anymore.
“It's sad to have to turn them away and say, ‘no, please come back later,’” she said. “Maybe we can give them food, but we don't have space.”
In response, the organization is offering a special – half-price adoptions for medium and large-sized dogs, through the end of this week.
Blessinger said the special had a great turnout this past weekend, and they were able to adopt out 96 dogs.
“We’re definitely in a better place today,” she said. “It isn’t as much as it is normally, but that did open up a good amount of space.”
Short-term fostering can also help the shelter make room for new dogs.
To adopt or foster a dog, you can visit either of the Humane Society’s campuses in Tampa or Clearwater.
You can also find a list of available dogs online.
And, as Easter comes up this weekend, you may be thinking about adopting a rabbit.
But, as Blessinger said, you should know that there is going to be some work involved.
“They have to sit down and have a talk with the adoption coordinators just like they would for any other animal,” she said. “We’re pretty confident that our adopters are going to stick with it. We try to do the best we can with education beforehand.”
