CINCINNATI — Cincinnati Animal Care is hoping for zero animals at their shelter on Christmas Day. They are partnering with Bissell Pet Foundation to clear the shelters. It’s a nationwide campaign, and it’s one the pet foundation has done several times this year.
Ray Anderson with Cincinnati Animal Care said they’ve been over capacity for months, but it has recently gotten better.
“It’s getting better, but one day can be the difference maker around here, one bad week, one bad month, and we’re right back into a severe capacity crisis, so we don’t want to see that happen, so the big thing that we just want to let people know is that our doors are open and please come see us before the holidays,” Anderson said.
He has also noticed fewer animals coming through their door.
“It’s slower, but slower to us is, we had 560 animals in November instead of 800, so that’s huge. Eight hundred puts a significant strain on resources here. If we could keep it under 500 a month we’d be in pretty good shape,” he said.
Anderson added Cincinnati Animal Care is under capacity for cats but is at 120 percent capacity for dogs.
A couple months ago Anderson said the shelter was at 225 percent capacity. He noted the animal shelter has 100 appropriate kennels for dogs, but because they were over capacity about 50 dogs had to be placed in pop-up crates. Currently, no dog is in a pop-up crate.
“It’s getting better, but one day can be the difference maker around here, one bad week, one bad month, and we’re right back into a severe capacity crisis, so we don’t want to see that happen, so the big thing that we just want to let people know is that our doors are open and please come see us before the holidays,” Anderson said.
The animal shelter will start its “Silent Night at the Shelter” next week. The goal of the initiative is to place every single animal in their care in short-term foster homes for the last two weeks of the year.
Anderson said they are always looking for more fosters and encourages people to sign up.
