MENDOCINO Co, CA, 1/4/23 — Mendocino County Animal Care Services announced Wednesday, ahead of a major storm, that its dog kennels are completely filled up. This means the Ukiah shelter could be put in a position to euthanize for space. Instead, they’re reaching out to the community for help.
“We are informing citizens that find themselves with a stray dog be made aware that we might not be able to assist you and request that you hold the stray dog for a bit in order for the Animal Shelter to gain the much-needed dog kennel space,” the county animal shelter wrote in a news release.
The shelter also encouraged residents not to abandon dogs, and instead to contact shelter personnel “before you make a bad decision.”
“If you are thinking of adopting a dog or assisting the Animal Shelter with fostering an animal, now would be the time due to the above circumstances,” the shelter wrote. “Any assistance that we can get would be greatly appreciated.”
The Mendocino Coast Humane Society is also at capacity, Executive Director Judy Martin told The Mendocino Voice. Thankfully, this shelter does not euthanize — but they’re hoping community members will step up, too, to alleviate the burden on animal care around the county. She encouraged those interested in fostering to reach out to them or the county shelter.
“We need some people to step up,” she told The Voice.
The Humane Society for Inland Mendocino County has halted cat intakes for the next three weeks to install new flooring, and is mostly halting dog intakes until more dogs can be adopted out.
“Our largest obstacle right now is spay and neuter,” Administrative Director Jenny Hanzlik wrote in an email to The Voice. “We could adopt out 38 of our 89 dogs today if they were spayed/neutered. Many of them have a surgery date in the next 8 weeks, or so, but it slows our ability for new intakes pretty dramatically.”
Check out county Animal Care Services’ adoptable dogs and fostering options.
Read more about Mendocino County’s overtaxed animal shelters.
Note: Kate Fishman covers the environment & natural resources for The Mendocino Voice in partnership with a Report For America. Her position is funded by the Community Foundation of Mendocino, Report for America, & our readers. You can support Fishman’s work with a tax-deductible donation here or by emailing [email protected]. Contact her at KFishman@mendovoice.com or at (707) 234-7735. The Voice maintains editorial control and independence.