Baltimore City animal shelter desperately looking to find homes for dogs because of no space

BALTIMORE - A lull in adoptions left BARCS animal shelter totally out of space for dogs, according to shelter officials who tell WJZ they're doing everything they can to find homes for them. 

The Baltimore Animal Rescue and Care Center is "critically out of space," according to Director of Communications Bailey Deacon.

She said the situation is unusual for this time of year.

"It's something we typically see in the summertime when we have a lot of strays and a lot of puppies and kittens," said Deacon. "It's not typical that it happens in the winter, especially in January."

Deacon said this year, they saw fewer adoptions during the holidays than usual. BARCS is an open-admission shelter that takes in every animal in need. Deacon said they took in about 200 dogs this month. The shelter only has enough cage space to house 120 dogs.

"When we are out of space we come to the community, waive fees and ask them to help us save lives," Deacon said.

To get the public's attention, BARCS waived all adoption fees until Sunday. 

Deacon said the shelter also started a new adoption network to try and mobilize more adoptions. 

Volunteers are working with each dog – getting to know their personalities, and then posting about them online.

"If you're a person that wants to run a 5k, we've got plenty of dogs that would love to run a 5k with you. If you want a couch potato, we have couch potatoes. There's everything here and shelter animals make great pets," said Deacon.

The shelter is open from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. on weekdays and from 11 a.m. To 4 p.m. on weekends. 

Deacon said people can also help out by fostering a dog.

"It opens a cage space in times like this when we're in a critical situation but it's also just so important for each of those individual dogs," Deacon said.

To meet one of the available dogs or if you're interested in fostering, fill out an application on their website www.barcs.org