The San Diego Humane Society has been consistently over capacity when it comes to the number of animals in its care for the last three years. Every year after the Fourth of July fireworks, the shelter receives multiple stray animals that have either run away from home.
“We're busy,” said Nina Thompson with the San Diego Humane Society. The shelter has close to 2,000 animals in their care. As of Sunday, the shelter has taken in an additional 186 animals since the holiday.
“We have absolutely had to sort of play Tetris to make sure that every single animal has a space,” said Thompson.
Daisy and her owner, Angel Contreras, were reunited at the San Diego Humane Society after she ran away from home Saturday night. Contreras found her on the Humane Society's website, where they list and photograph the stray animals that have been taken in.
“The first thing I see is a little picture of her and it was a big sigh of relief, I was like well she's safe at least,” said Contreras.
Contreras expected to pay a fee upon picking Daisy up. However, the shelter has waived the reclaim fees through July 8.
“I'm just happy. Everybody at home is going to be happy once I get her home,” said Contreras.
The Humane Society has consistently found that over the last few years, the percentage of pets reclaimed by their owners has never been more than 25%. That includes pets that have been microchipped. The shelter encourages owners to microchip their pets because it makes it significantly easier to identify them and locate the owner.
“Even if they're indoor pets, you don't know if they're going to slip out through an open door, or any other circumstance where they may run away. Microchipping is a permanent form of identification,” said Thompson.
The San Diego Humane Society is also grappling with a $1 million cut in its funding from the City of San Diego, under its recently adopted budget for the next fiscal year. Thompson said negotiations with the city are still ongoing, and it's too early to tell what impact this could potentially have on the shelter's dwindling resources.
Because of the sheer number of animals at the shelter, the Humane Society has had to create makeshift shelters on some of its property at its campus on Gaines Street in Linda Vista to make more room.
“We will manage, always. We have our incredible volunteers, our staff goes above and beyond for the pets who are in our care,” said Thompson. “There's never going to be an animal turned away,” she added.
If your pet is missing, the Humane Society encourages you to check the Stray Pets in Our Care section on the shelter's website.
The shelter currently has $70 adoption fees for adult cats and dogs through July 19 under its campaign, BISSELL Pet Foundation's Empty the Shelters.
