KC Pet Project is navigating a recent surge in new animals arriving at its shelters.
"We're receiving way above average the number of pets that we normally get in this time of year, so we're seeing upwards of around 50 to 70 pets each day coming into the shelter," said Tori Fugate with KC Pet Project." We're getting 30 plus kittens a day, a lot of stray pets, and a lot of owner relinquishments, so with these additions coming in we're really, really full at the shelter. We need adopters, we need fosters, donors to help us care for all these animals, offer supplies, we need the community to help us get through the summer."
Fugate said there are many factors driving the increase in traffic.
"We're seeing a lot of reasons that people are having to give up their animals, due to housing, due to financial reasons, a lot of that is due to COVID, what we're experiencing, kind of the byproduct of that," she explained. "People just can't find housing for them and their pets, and they come to us as their last resort, and we're really trying hard to keep families together through our Keep 'Em Together program, trying to offer foster homes to families to give them time to be able to keep their animals but unfortunately, the need for those families getting those services far outweighs the number of resources that we have."
The timing of the surge is also coming when the shelter historically sees an increase.
"Around the Fourth of July is typically one of our busiest intake weeks of the year. We start to see pets come in early as the 1st and 2nd, and then all the way through the 9th and 10th, we'll see a lot of stray animals coming in. If you find a stray animal, it's best really to check to see if the pet has a microchip, you can actually post on some lost and found threads because there's a lot of members of the community that have microchip scanners that can come and check. You can take it to a vet clinic because they'll also have scanners," Fugate said.
KC Pet Project recently held a vaccination and microchip clinic in the 18th and Vine District, with more planned later this year to get animals up to date on their shots and chipped if needed.
