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Animal shelters continue to see capacity crisis, pet owners are to blame

Carson says pet owners should realize the great responsibility of caring for pets before deciding to take them in.

MUSKEGON, Mich — Animal shelters across West Michigan are seeing a constant issue of a capacity crisis.

Pound Buddies animal shelter in Muskegon said they have been at capacity for more than a year now and are calling on pet owners about the responsibility of taking care of their pets.

Since our story first story aired about the capacity crisis at Pound Buddies, the agency said a few puppies have been adopted out, but executive director Lana Carson says the number of dogs coming in is outpacing the number of animals finding new homes.

“We know that as soon as a kennel is opened up, I’m not even kidding, within minutes somebody's coming in, like oh I just found this, or we get a call from three animal control shelters or something else happens, so, it's just a constant intake,” Carson said.

Carson said pet owners should realize the great responsibility of caring for pets before deciding to take them in.

Carson said the animal shelter has had to pick up pets off the streets, because some people decide they can no longer take care of their pets and simply let them loose.

“We are picking up animals that are left behind in abandoned homes after evictions, animals that are tied up on poles and street signs and again, this is occurring on a daily basis, animals that are constantly running loose,” Carson said.  "This is just ultimately coming down to people who are not being responsible for their pets.”

Carson said some people feel like they have no other choice and become desperate.

“We have to recognize where is this problem coming from and that is coming from the people who have these pets in the first place, what is happening in the community, and there has to be a very abrupt change and people being held accountable and responsible for their pets."

As for people whose animal get away, Carson said an eight-dollar ID tag can help quickly bring lost pets back to their owners, however she added that the best long-term solution to the capacity problem is to reduce the pet population and have an animal spade or neutered.

“Oops, oops, well oops is leading to a capacity crisis,” said Carson. There's no excuse, no excuse for any adult with an unaltered animal, that there's an ‘oops’ litter. That is common sense. and that’s right, there has to be an abrupt change.”

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