WACO, Texas — The Humane Society of Central Texas has put a pause on dog intakes after reaching its maximum capacity.
There are currently two hundred dogs at the shelter that are in desperate need of adoption.
The Humane Society of Central Texas is a nonprofit organization that partners with the city of Waco. According to
Brooke Farrell, the organization’s Director of Community Relations, the Covid -19 pandemic worsened the amount of surrendered dogs and strays.
“We are seeing an abundance of animals from a slowdown of spay and neuter appointments to help keep up the sterilization that helps prevent such an abundance of animals in our community,” said Farrell. “We are also just seeing folks fall on harder times, and are then unable to support their furry animals financially.”
Every possible dog kennel with the organization is filled. That’s including the temporary shelters. The Humane Society of Central Texas has attained a No-Kill Status, which means nearly 90% of the animals that arrive go on to their forever homes.
But the measures from the overpopulation is forcing the organization to make challenging decisions.
“It’s forced our hand into having to essentially humanely euthanize three dogs in our clinic this past Friday, to create that space for new strays to be able to come for sheltering,” said Farrell. “Those decisions are incredibly hard for our team to have to have to accept the reality of deciding who needs little bit more time and who is just suffering by being stuck in this type of environment for so long.”
Here’s what you can do:
The organization expects adoptions to continue to decline this time of year, when people are busy with the holidays.
That’s why the Humane Society is incentivizing adoptions.
“Once you find your buddy, the adoption process is super easy. We have a one page contract that hardly takes more than ten minutes to fill out,” said Farrell. “We are also offering free adoptions for any large dogs and free adoptions to fosters to help them get on to happy homes and off to their freedom rides.”
What comes with the adoption package?
A thorough veterinary exam
Spay or neuter surgery
Microchip
Vaccinations
Pet behavioral advice
What if adoption isn’t an option for me right now?
“Foster homes are such an incredible life saving way for animals still looking for their forever to have a safe, quieter spot to decompress from the stressors of shelter life.”
Fostering provides a softer experience for dogs that in turn helps increase their adaptability. It also helps the team learn more about the animals individually.
The organization is also accepting monetary donations to help fund its life saving programs. One of these includes training dogs to build socialization and behavioral skills. It can cost upwards of more than one thousand dollars per dog for training, according to Farrell.
“It truly comes to needing our community support to be able to help provide happy, healthy live outcomes from the shelter so that we don't have to make the hard choices of who runs out of time.”
The Humane Society of Central Texas is located at 2032 Circle Road in Waco, open seven days a week.
For a list of animals that are in need of adoption, click here.