Jerome Animal Shelter calls on community to help house lost dogs
Shelter has been over capacity for months.
TWIN FALLS, Idaho (KMVT/KSVT) — Jerome Animal Shelter is in need of the community’s help with identifying lost pets or adopting a new fur friend.
The Jerome shelter is a small facility that only has up to 14 kennels available to house lost, found and abandoned dogs within the city and county. On average the shelter takes in roughly 500 dogs a year and has no ability to facilitate any cats or other exotic pets.
The shelter holds animals for up to five days and if no one shows up, they contact rescue centers to take on the job.
“Typically, if a dog isn’t picked up by an owner, we try to get them to either an adoption agency that’s outside our area to try with it, we also get adoptions locally, and if none of that works we also send them out to rescues either locally or in other states,” said Administrative Captain of the Jerome Police Department, Anthony Gratzer.
However, if the rescue center isn’t able to save the animals, the shelter is left with no choice but to euthanize them. According to the shelter’s animal technician, they had to euthanize 16 dogs within the last month already.
“Our ethnicizations this year are much higher than they were in the past, mostly because overpopulation and its getting expensive for people to take care of their animals,” said Elizabeth Sundquisd.
Only 26% of owners come to the shelter to claim their lost pets. One of the ways the community can help the shelter out is by donating money for food and for transportation in order to move the animals from the shelter to the rescues. This will help lower euthinization numbers.
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