Shelters, rescues dealing with influx of abandoned dogs
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IDAHO FALLS — The shelters are full — bursting at the seams. They can’t take any more owner surrenders. It’s a recurring dilemma that is only made worse by the increasing numbers of strays and “dumped” or abandoned animals.
Only a few months ago, the Blackfoot shelter was so full the employees had made a difficult decision. On Sept. 26, 2023, the shelter posted on Facebook, announcing that — due to sheer overcapacity — about 20 dogs were facing euthanization. The dogs had until Sept. 30 before employees would have to euthanize them.
The post received over 1,100 reactions, and the community rallied for the dogs. As more and more people heard the news, they came looking for forever pets.
RELATED | Surge in adoptions saves dozens of dogs from euthanization at Blackfoot Animal Shelter
“The public answered our plea,” Amanda Cevering, executive director of the Blackfoot Animal Shelter, told EastIdahoNews.com at the time.
A year before that, Blackfoot was being overrun by strays and abandoned animals.
Facilities and rescues in the area are once again stretched to the limit with strays and abandoned dogs, so much so that they are turning away owner surrenders.
Earline Outlaw, an animal control officer in Rexburg, said they have seen a steady increase in abandoned animals — especially dogs — over the years. Still, it has been worse since the pandemic. And this year, she told EastIdahoNews.com, is the worst yet.
“It’s getting worse with each passing year,” she said. “Those numbers just keep going up and becoming increasingly overwhelming.”
The leading causes for owner surrenders in Rexburg are housing issues and behavioral issues, Outlaw said.
“I think a lot of it comes down to the fact that some of these owners just don’t take into account after adoption, ‘What do I need to prepare myself for? Is this something that I can handle?’… People make impulsive decisions and then get in over their heads and try to find the easy way out.”
Hobby breeders, or backyard breeders, are taking a toll as well. Outlaw said the shelter gets calls almost weekly from people asking for help with a litter of puppies — either wanting to drop them at the shelter or asking for help rehoming them.
Whatever the reason an owner wants to surrender their pet, a shelter can only take so many dogs at a time. Once it has a certain amount of dogs, owner surrenders are no longer taken in. However, a county shelter has to take in strays, so owners sometimes go for the loophole.
“People resort to abandoning their animals, and then it forces our hand,” Outlaw said.
The hobby breeders aren’t above abandoning animals, either.
“We see a huge problem with what we call fad breeding. People, they try to see what’s popular and then see if they could get on board to make a buck off of it,” she explained.
Doodles — one breed crossed with a poodle — have been a big fad for the past few years. They are both popular and expensive, so owners reclaim “actual” strays within 24 to 72 hours, Outlaw said.
However, lately, no one has come to spring them from “doggy jail.”
“We see strays, but honestly, they look like they were abandoned because they were healthy when they were picked up — very, very friendly with people, used to being handled,” Outlaw explained. “There’s usually ways we can kind of guess like, ‘Yeah, this dog was probably … not just a regular stray.'”
The Blackfoot Animal Shelter posted pictures of a dog that was allegedly dumped by a breeder on Jan. 19.
“About a week ago a lady brought him in trying to surrender him,” the shelter said in the post. “As we have no empty space we could not take him.”
What can be done?
Animal shelter officials, rescuers and animal welfare workers agree that the best way to reduce the number of animals in shelters is for people to spay or neuter their pets.
“Spaying and neutering will, over time, certainly help curb the overpopulation issues that we’re facing right now,” Outlaw said.
Shelters and rescues are trying to offer more low-cost spaying and neutering. For city or county municipals, that means grants. For humane societies and rescues, that usually means donations.
“We’re hoping that (low-cost spay and neuter) is something that, through grants, we can do regularly to help families in our community … so we don’t run into the issue of, ‘My dog got out and got pregnant, this was an accident,'” Outlaw said.
“We just want to stop the unnecessary suffering of unwanted, neglected, abandoned animals,” Jennifer Andrew, president of the Bingham County Humane Society, told EastIdahoNews.com. “It is a controllable thing; we just need the support of like-minded, kind people.”
When it comes to a misbehaving pet, training is the answer. So many behavioral issues can be corrected, Outlaw pointed out, and shelters and rescues alike are happy to help with training. Training can keep a dog where it belongs: in a loving home.
“Here, you have people trained in handling animals and animal behaviors, people with the experience and references to help you and your animal,” Rexburg Animal Shelter states on its website.
Rescues like Aska’s Animals in Driggs offer free or subsidized training outreach programs.
Many shelters offer training programs, too. For example, Snake River Animal Shelter in Idaho Falls also runs a nonprofit dog training program through its facility. Idaho K9 Academy offers both basic and advanced training.
Abandoning a pet is against the law in Idaho and people who are convicted of doing so can face misdemeanor charges. This charge carries a punishment of jail time (up to six months) or a fine of at least $100 (up to $5,000), or both.