Philadelphia animal shelters stressed as dog surrenders rise, fewer people willing to adopt

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Animal shelters throughout Philadelphia say they are reaching their breaking point due to the number of pet surrenders.

At Save Me Animal Rescue in Philadelphia's Gray's Ferry section, the kennels are full and the workers are strained. Workers there say the adoption boom from the pandemic is over.

"That also leads to a lot of people staying inside, not properly socializing their dog, training their dog. So now the dogs that are coming back tend to have more behavioral issues," said shelter manager Devon Kluver.

She says as people resume a more normal pre-pandemic lifestyle, some are choosing to surrender their dogs.

SEE ALSO: Philly-area shelters see influx of pet surrenders as more people go back to work

"You are seeing a lot of people surrendering pets for reasons that during the pandemic weren't as big of a deal," said Sarah Barnett, the acting co-executive director of ACCT Philly.

"Typically we don't take in owner surrenders, but we have started to take in a select few over what has happened at ACCT in order to help ACCT out," said Kluver.

ACCT Philly says intake for dogs is up 40% from a year ago and over half of those are surrenders. The shelter has over 100 dogs available for adoption and is at capacity.

"It's heartbreaking. We want to say yes to everybody. We want to help every single dog," said Jessica Graaf, the president of Philly Bully Team, a nonprofit that helps foster pit bulls.

She says her organization is no longer accepting surrenders.

"When someone reaches out to us, an owner, and they want to surrender their dog, we pour all of our resources and time to finding a foster and making sure we have enough money to cover any medical or behavioral concerns that come with that," said Graaf.

Workers say the other side of the problem is fewer people are willing to foster or adopt, meaning dogs are staying in shelters longer.

Graaf is currently caring for a pit bull named Dottie, who she took in two weeks ago because ACCT couldn't.

That's a short turnaround compared to Kurt, a pit bull who's been at Save Me Animal Rescue for a year and a half.

"The shelter is a stressful environment for any dog. And for a dog to be here for over 500 days, you can kind of see them start to decline a little bit," said Kluver.

She says Kurt is a sponsored dog, meaning adoption fees have been waived. She hopes someone will step up and take him in soon.

"There is a home out there for him and we just really want to find it," she said.