Humane Society of Harford County 'overwhelmed' with dogs: 'We are spread a little thin'

BALTIMORE - The Humane Society of Harford County needs your help.

The shelter is currently over capacity and needs dogs to be fostered or adopted.

Meet Maya, she's going home with her new foster mom, Nicole Van Valkenburgh.

This is Van Valkenburgh's first time fostering.

She's doing it to help out the Human Society of Harford County because it is overcapacity with dogs.

"After knowing that all of the shelter space here is getting taken up, I decided that I would bite the bullet and foster this sweet dog here," Van Valkenburgh said.

The facility in Fallston has kennel space for 65 dogs. Currently, it has 98.

Seventeen of them were brought in last week after they were seized from a home by Animal Control. They can't be adopted because they're a part of an active investigation.

Humane Society staff says about 40% of their kennels are full with dogs brought in by Animal Control.

"We still have the public turning in strays, turning in owner surrender animals and animal control is still bringing animals in," The Humane Society of Harford County Executive Director Bob Citrullo said.

In an effort to try to make more space for the dogs, the Humane Society will be opening a temporary shelter on their property.

"We're going to put up a 40x40 tent," Citrullo said. "It's going to be heated, lit, everything that it needs so that we can care for the animals."

While that gets built, staff members are making do, but they need help from the public.

"We want to, of course, always want to give the animals the highest quality of care we can for them," The Humane Society of Harford County Alternative Placements Coordinator Danielle Holbrook said. "But, you know, being over capacity, we are spread a little thin and we rely on the public and the volunteers to come in and give us a hand with those things."

The shelter said it has several initiatives to increase adoptions:

• Waived adoption fees for first responders as part of the Hometown Heroes program 
• Adoption fees waived for senior citizens who adopt a senior pet
• Adopters who choose an animal who's been at the shelter for over 4 months get a free bag of food and 3 months of flea, tick and heartworm preventative, a package that's valued at $150 

For information on fostering and adoptions, check out this link.