Santa Barbara County Animal Services took in 117 more pets in need than at the same time last year – in fact, 334 in total just last month.
"The number of animals in need is far outpacing the number of people adopting," said Sarah Aguilar, SBCAS Director.
“The high volume of pets in need that we are seeing right now is something that we haven’t seen in years," she said.
In fact, said Aguilar, it was so busy that on December 2 there were no vacant kennels to house new strays. SBCAS leadership alerted the community, and over the weekend, 33 pets went into homes.
Aguilar says that one of the reasons for the surge is the pandemic creating many first-time animal owners.
"Maybe they're getting their first big medical bill [for their pet] and because of COVID and the economy they're not in a position to be able to pay for those medical bills," she said.
More details on how to foster, adopt or volunteer are here: https://linktr.ee/sbcanimalservices
