A recent weekend surge in dog intakes has put Dallas Animal Services under further capacity strain.
From April 26-28, there were a total of 189 dogs brought into the shelter, according to a social media post from Dallas Animal Services (DAS).
The shelter is now at 143% of its capacity, with 428 dogs sharing 300 kennels.
“We just cannot catch a break — every time we start to catch our breath and think our capacity is going down, here comes a huge intake weekend to set us back again,” the post read.
On a positive note, 84 dogs were adopted over the weekend, 38 went to a foster home, and 20 were transferred to rescue partners.
Back in March, DAS was at 129% capacity for dogs with 388 dogs in 300 kennels, as previously covered by The Dallas Express.
“We cannot save lives without the community, and we have seen that in times of extreme overcrowding in the shelter, they will show up to help,” Sarah Sheek, assistant general manager of community management at DAS, previously told The Dallas Express.
Dallas is not the only city facing capacity issues, as Fort Worth is in a similar situation. Its shelter had over 1,300 animals in its care last month, where, on average, they maintain over 1,200, covered by The Dallas Express.
Many of these shelter dogs are being put in a state of “Code Red,” referring to the animals most urgently needing adoption or rescue.
Fort Worth Animal Care and Control (FWACC) had 21 code red dogs, and DAS had 35 as of May 3.
Both shelters have been regularly searching for more people willing to foster these pooches.
“Foster parents help increase the adoptability of these pets by providing care and a home during the time of transition from the shelter to forever home,” the FWACC website reads.
“We need fosters, especially for dogs 40 lbs and bigger … to help us make room for incoming pets,” the DAS social media post said.
DAS requires a foster application, agreement, and general release before taking an animal home, and FWACC requires a foster form to be filled out.
Dogs available for fostering at FWACC can be found here, and those at DAS can be found here.
