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Animal shelters on the Central and South Coasts say they’re experiencing a surge in lost pets

Animal Shelters on the Central and South Coasts say they're experiencing a surge in lost pets
Caroline Feraday
/
KCLU
Animal Shelters on the Central and South Coasts say they're experiencing a surge in lost pets

But why? The end of the pandemic lockdowns could be the reason.

There are 178 kennels at the Ventura County Animal Services animal shelter in Camarillo and they are full. Full of dogs of all shapes and sizes, all calling for attention as we walk by. "Pick me. Pick me," they seem to say.

"We are overcrowded at the Camarillo and Simi Valley shelters," explained Randy Friedman, the marketing manager for Ventura County Animal Services. "We have a lot of animals - mostly dogs. Our dog kennels are full."

And last week, the shelter was well over capacity — a situation which has been improved by a promotion of the weekend — but not solved.

Friedman says they’ve been experiencing a noticeable surge in dogs coming in to the shelter.

"We get about 12-15 animals come in every single day, so if we don't adopt out that number, if we don't find their owners or we don't get them into foster care, we end up in the same position where we are overcrowded," said Friedman.

One thing many of the animals have in common? Their age.

"We are looking at younger dogs coming in, that are between 1 and 3 years of age. They are dogs that people may have gotten during the pandemic," said Friedman.

He said they didn't see the post lockdown "bump" which LA County shelters saw, but now they are experiencing a surge as folks return to the office or take vacations.

"We are maybe seeing more of these dogs coming in," he said.

Friedman explained that the smaller dogs usually get adopted fairly quickly, but the larger breeds can be harder to rehome and are at the shelter for longer.

It’s not just in Ventura County. In Santa Barbara County, for the sixth month in a row, they’ve seen a drastic increase in the number of lost pets coming into their three facilities.

"It's 120 more stray pets just in one month," said Sarah Aguilar, the Director of Animal Services for Santa Barbara County.

She says it may not be as simple as every animal brought in as lost, actually being a stray – and that she thinks some may be animal surrenders.

"People are having to make really tough decisions, and turning a pet in, or bringing it in as a stray - it creates a buffer so that if people are going to judge you - they're not going to do that if you're bringing a stray pet in as opposed to relinquishing a family member," said Aguilar.

Foster homes and adoptions are critical in meeting the needs of the growing number of animals.

"The biggest need are adopters but if they can't, we need people to foster dogs, particularly large breed dogs to give them a break from shelter life," said Friedman.

Caroline joined KCLU in October 2020. She won LA Press Club's Audio Journalist of the Year Award in 2022 and 2023.

Since joining the station she's won 7 Golden Mike Awards, 4 Los Angeles Press Club Awards and 2 National Arts & Entertainment Awards.

She started her broadcasting career in the UK, in both radio and television for BBC News, 95.8 Capital FM and Sky News and was awarded the Prince Philip Medal for her services to radio and journalism in 2007.

She has lived in California for ten years and is both an American and British citizen - and a very proud mom to her daughter, Elsie.