YAKIMA, Wash.- The Yakima Humane Society has to turn away pet owners who need to put their pet up for adoption.
The shelter is at capacity for both dogs and cats, meaning there’s no room to put new animals.
“It feels like now with overpopulation and we’re hitting the holiday season, adoptions have diminished.” says Director of Shelter Operations Kelli Peal.
For now, when someone comes in hoping to surrender their pet, they’re put on a waitlist and given resources to rehome it outside the Humane Society.
Peal says unfortunately, some people don’t take the waitlist for an answer.
“It is very hard to show up here and find out that someone abandoned an animal during the night,” she says.
YHS took to Facebook announcing its capacity on November 19. By November 22, two other posts have announced an unexpected drop-off.
The shelter still has to take those animals in and find different ways to house them.
“They get put in a what should be a temporary housing, which is what we call a pop up,” says Peal. “We literally just pop it up in any area of our building. They unfortunately live in that space until we can have an adoption or clear out a big kennel.”
The four different kennel rooms are all full with some cages having multiple dogs in one space. The pop-ups go into offices and open spaces, meaning Peal has a new office mate.
“We enjoy having animals in the office,” says Peal. “We always have someone that is getting special needs. Unfortunately, when we have an overabundance of animals here, that limits the special cases we can take.”
The Humane Society is working to find new homes for the pets, but the holiday season isn’t the best timeframe for adoptions.
“A lot of adoptions drop off during Thanksgiving because you don’t want to bring home that new animal and be out of town,” says Peal.
With Christmas around the corner, YHS says many people think a new pet makes for a great gift. While they can, Peal urges caution and research.
“As long as that person is aware of the gift,” she says. “We don’t adopt animals out as surprise gifts. If you’re oozing to adopt an animal and you’re consulting them and they’re being part of that then it’s an amazing gift.”
Yakima Humane Society is lowering adoption fees by up to 50% on certain animals through the month of November. Though there is urgency to get the animals new homes, the adoption fee is still a necessary component.
“We are a nonprofit,” says Peal. “We’re not here to make any money. But we do have to recoup some of that so that we can afford to still care for these animals.”
