SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC NEWS) – Animal shelters across the country are experiencing some of the highest amounts of pets that they have ever seen. The CNYSPCA is no exception, wagging tails are everywhere but with nowhere to go.
“In the spirit of Valentine’s Day, these animals are looking for their lost love,” said CNY SPCA Director, Troy Waffner. “These are all good animals, I think sometimes shelter animals get a bad rep that there’s something broken about them. There’s nothing broken about these animals, they ended up here because their owners tossed them aside.”
This past weekend, the SPCA held its ‘Roses are Red’ adoption event. February’s edition was Valentine’s centered, but this isn’t the first month the shelter has been holding themed meet-and-greets. It all started this summer.
“We’ve been doing these since probably about July,” said Waffner. “At each adoption event we probably adopt out 12-15 dogs and several cats. They’ve been hugely successful in getting dogs out of the shelter.”
And now seems more important than ever to adopt and rescue – The rising trend in stray intakes for dogs continues to cause concern, as the numbers from 2022-2023 have grown by 5% according to Shelter Animals Count.
“It’s always important,” said Mattydale resident, Heidi Dashnaw. “If you have availability and a spot for a pet to love you should go get a pet. You can take care of it.”
“We’re picking up near record numbers of stray animals,” said Waffner. “When you break it down, a lot of the common things are people got animals during the pandemic. They thought they were always going to live in their place and work from home. Then, reality hits and the world opens up. They realize they can’t take care of their animal.”
As the call to rescue these four-legged friends grows louder and louder, Waffner called for one last reminder to adopt versus buying from a breeder.
“When someone adopts one dog from our shelter or another, they save two because it frees up a kennel to bring another dog in in need into the facility, work with it and get it adopted.”
And because it’s February, the shelter is also holding their “Cupid’s Calling” program where animals that have been at the shelter longer for than six months will have their adoption fee reduced by 80%.
