Since the pandemic animal shelters have been facing many new CHALLENGES -- Hayley schoeneman, 6th grade
Since the pandemic, animal shelters have been facing many new challenges. According to Nina Rivas, who works at Berkeley Humane Society, “The main issues we see are not having enough food and having a lot of medical cases as well.”
An article in U.S. News written by Dennis Thompson says, “The pandemic caused a sharp decline in spaying and neutering, first with the initial lockdowns and then with shelter overcrowding, lagging pet adoption rates, and a nationwide shortage of veterinarians.” Rivas adds, “We see a lot of under-socialized animals, so we have a larger influx of dogs with a lot of stranger danger or just a lot of timid and shy dogs as well.” She also notices that “With the pandemic we don’t have as many volunteers as we used to so we are a little stretched thin, a little overworked.”
Berkeley Humane uses foster care to clear up space in the shelters. “Our foster program is so extensive so we have most, if not all of our animals in foster. So that's how we deal with overpopulation so that we can clear up space in the kennels and the cat rooms for more animals to come in, and we can always send more to foster,” Rivas says. She continues, “We never euthanize for space issues which is what's really nice about having a private non-profit. The only times we have euthanized are for really bad medical cases or animals that are so behaviorally modified to the point where we can’t handle them.”
But other shelters aren’t able to do this. According to an article in Reuters written by Rollo Ross, "Every year in the United States, 1.5 million shelter animals are euthanized, including 670,000 dogs,” said Chloe Esperiquette, development coordinator at Wags and Walks adoption center in Los Angeles in the article. She continued, "at Wags we save approximately 1,000 dogs a year. It's definitely not enough."
The adoption rates were definitely affected by the pandemic. Rivas says that “during the pandemic we had smaller adoption numbers I would say. We used to do before the pandemic around 3,000 to 4,000 adoptions a year but during the pandemic, end of 2019 to about now, we do 700 to 800 adoptions a year which is a really big change.” It seemed a bit like people were getting a bunch of new pets during the pandemic, though Rivas points out that more people than usual would come in looking specifically for a kitten or a puppy.
Contrary to that, an article in Kron4 written by Haaziq Madyun, says “The demand for pets is at an all-time high at animal shelters here in the Bay Area, a direct result of the pandemic.”
Rivas says that since she started working at Berkeley humane society “the longest time we’ve ever had an animal would be about 500 to 600 days.” But when it comes to getting adopted, some animals have it easier than others.” Rivas sees that “Anyone below 3 to 4 months gets adopted first, same thing with puppies depending on the breed. Large breed puppies like german shepherds or we get a lot of huskies puppies too, they tend to stay a little bit longer, because a lot of people are like ‘oh wow a really small, cute dog’ than all of a sudden there like ‘wait, this dogs probably gonna be like 80 pounds at its full size.’”
Since the end of the pandemic, many people have been surrendering their pets. Rivas thinks that this is because they are now realizing that a young cat or dog can’t be alone for 8 hours a day.
“After a long day, working a 9 to 5 job a lot of people are like ‘I don’t have time when I get home to do training or taking my dog out for dog play dates’ and stuff like that,” Rivas continues. When people go back to work it also affects their pets personality Rivas notices that “a lot of the time the cats become super shy or not as confident as they were when their owner was home all the time.”
If you want to volunteer at Berkeley Humane click this link. Volunteers don’t need previous experience but are required to complete some training to ensure that the animals are all handled well. Twelve is the minimum age and from that until fifteen you are required to have an adult guardian accompanying you. At sixteen you can volunteer independently.
Berkeley Humane also has a few animals who need to be adopted and are having trouble. Mouse, Sampson, and Mr. French Fry are a bonded trio of thirteen year old cats. They are siblings and it’s asked that you adopt all three of them so as not to separate this furry family. Most people want kittens not adult cats so these guys keep getting overlooked. If you want to see their profiles click here.
An article in U.S. News written by Dennis Thompson says, “The pandemic caused a sharp decline in spaying and neutering, first with the initial lockdowns and then with shelter overcrowding, lagging pet adoption rates, and a nationwide shortage of veterinarians.” Rivas adds, “We see a lot of under-socialized animals, so we have a larger influx of dogs with a lot of stranger danger or just a lot of timid and shy dogs as well.” She also notices that “With the pandemic we don’t have as many volunteers as we used to so we are a little stretched thin, a little overworked.”
Berkeley Humane uses foster care to clear up space in the shelters. “Our foster program is so extensive so we have most, if not all of our animals in foster. So that's how we deal with overpopulation so that we can clear up space in the kennels and the cat rooms for more animals to come in, and we can always send more to foster,” Rivas says. She continues, “We never euthanize for space issues which is what's really nice about having a private non-profit. The only times we have euthanized are for really bad medical cases or animals that are so behaviorally modified to the point where we can’t handle them.”
But other shelters aren’t able to do this. According to an article in Reuters written by Rollo Ross, "Every year in the United States, 1.5 million shelter animals are euthanized, including 670,000 dogs,” said Chloe Esperiquette, development coordinator at Wags and Walks adoption center in Los Angeles in the article. She continued, "at Wags we save approximately 1,000 dogs a year. It's definitely not enough."
The adoption rates were definitely affected by the pandemic. Rivas says that “during the pandemic we had smaller adoption numbers I would say. We used to do before the pandemic around 3,000 to 4,000 adoptions a year but during the pandemic, end of 2019 to about now, we do 700 to 800 adoptions a year which is a really big change.” It seemed a bit like people were getting a bunch of new pets during the pandemic, though Rivas points out that more people than usual would come in looking specifically for a kitten or a puppy.
Contrary to that, an article in Kron4 written by Haaziq Madyun, says “The demand for pets is at an all-time high at animal shelters here in the Bay Area, a direct result of the pandemic.”
Rivas says that since she started working at Berkeley humane society “the longest time we’ve ever had an animal would be about 500 to 600 days.” But when it comes to getting adopted, some animals have it easier than others.” Rivas sees that “Anyone below 3 to 4 months gets adopted first, same thing with puppies depending on the breed. Large breed puppies like german shepherds or we get a lot of huskies puppies too, they tend to stay a little bit longer, because a lot of people are like ‘oh wow a really small, cute dog’ than all of a sudden there like ‘wait, this dogs probably gonna be like 80 pounds at its full size.’”
Since the end of the pandemic, many people have been surrendering their pets. Rivas thinks that this is because they are now realizing that a young cat or dog can’t be alone for 8 hours a day.
“After a long day, working a 9 to 5 job a lot of people are like ‘I don’t have time when I get home to do training or taking my dog out for dog play dates’ and stuff like that,” Rivas continues. When people go back to work it also affects their pets personality Rivas notices that “a lot of the time the cats become super shy or not as confident as they were when their owner was home all the time.”
If you want to volunteer at Berkeley Humane click this link. Volunteers don’t need previous experience but are required to complete some training to ensure that the animals are all handled well. Twelve is the minimum age and from that until fifteen you are required to have an adult guardian accompanying you. At sixteen you can volunteer independently.
Berkeley Humane also has a few animals who need to be adopted and are having trouble. Mouse, Sampson, and Mr. French Fry are a bonded trio of thirteen year old cats. They are siblings and it’s asked that you adopt all three of them so as not to separate this furry family. Most people want kittens not adult cats so these guys keep getting overlooked. If you want to see their profiles click here.
Another animal who could use some help getting a home is Kieran. Kieran is a dog who has been at Berkeley Humane for about four hundred days, and being two years old that’s more than half of his life. Kieran needs to be in an active household where he can be well trained and loved. Also Kieran needs a home free of pets and young children. To see his profile click here.