Lodi Animal Shelter At Capacity, Pushing For More Adoptions
LODI (CBS13) — The animal shelter in Lodi is no longer accepting animals as the facility now finds itself at capacity. Officers say they only have room to house 15 cats and 25 dogs, but since the New Year, the number of animals under their care has grown.
When Melissa Spruel found out the Lodi Animal Shelter was at full capacity, she wanted to swing by and see if she can help. She has been wanting to adopt a second dog for a while.
"It's sad. I wish more people would adopt older dogs oppose to puppies. A lot of people tend to go for the puppies," she said.
Workers are making some rearrangements to their setup to prevent the animals from being euthanized. The small dogs are now paired up in one large cage, as are the cats.
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There is also an urgent call to the community. Animal service officers say adoptions in 2018 were low, but the number of strays and abandoned pets have gone up. One reason, they say, is some owners just can't afford pets and end up leaving them at the shelter's front door.
"Right now, being there that has been a lot of strays out there and more stray being brought, we're trying to determine whether they are being brought in from the City of Lodi or they are coming in from the county," said Jordan Kranish, animal service officer.
The Lodi shelter is a kill shelter. Officers say about three percent of its animals were euthanized last year, and 10 percent were in 2017. They do work with rescue groups to help get animals moved around, sometimes out to different cities where there is more room and greater demand.
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"Lodi Animal Services Foundation have been able to fund money to lower the cost of adoption meaning they are helping to spade and neutered the animals. So, the animal is ready to go to their forever home," he said.
At least two of the dogs at the shelter were adopted Friday, but there are plenty of other dogs and cats that need forever homes. The shelter will be open this weekend.