Animal shelter: 'the perfect storm in a bad way'

Posted at: 06/23/2012 11:46 PM | Updated at: 06/24/2012 10:36 AM
By: Dan Levy

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GLENVILLE -  What began earlier this week as a potential animal care crisis has become sort of a blessing in disguise for pets and pet lovers.

After two recent large scale hoarding incidents, the Animal Protective Foundation kennels and cages in Glenville became filled to their canine and kitty cat capacities. After word got out that there were no vacancies and animals needed to be moved out, prospective pet owners responded, opening their hearts and their homes to new adoptions.

Inside the noise-echoing walls of the APF headquarters, something happened this week that never happened before. Every concrete kennel, every comfortable cage, every suitable space, in every available room was taken -- 150 animals all under one roof at one time.

"It's been extremely stressful here," said Marguerite Pearson, director of communications for the APF. "The staff was so concerned about the volume of animals that we are caring for. It was kind of like the perfect storm in a bad way."

The perfect storm that created the pet care predicament began after SPCA investigators hauled in dozens of cats and dogs from alleged hoarding situations, at the same time when the usual number of unwanted and stray animals were also being dropped off.

"You never know when it's going to happen and it's really frustrating just a constant roller coaster," Pearson says. "We have to spay and neuter more animals more aggressively and that's what we're working on."

Pearson says they've also been working on marketing, offering a "Pick Your Own Price" special to clear out the cages. The pet project appears to be working.

"It was on TV and I saw it and I felt like I should help out and I adopted this cat," said Emma Soltis, 15, of Mariaville, after picking out a brand new six-year-old domestic short hair cat named Smokey.

Meanwhile, Allison Soltis figured if her little sister could adopt a new pet, so could she, settling on a five-year-old, one-eyed cat named Dori.

"We have cats at home and we thought we'd add a new addition and we saw the thing on the news and thought we'd try to help out a little bit," she said.

"We've had wonderful people come in," Pearson said, "They're concerned about the animals. I think they're going to be really great homes and they're adopting two at a time. We haven't had that in months."

Pearson says 40 cats and a few dogs were adopted on Saturday. Many more pets are still available.

The shelter hasn't decided yet if they will extend the "Pick Your Own Price" campaign. The best thing to do is to visit their website for special offers.