LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — A local Arkansas animal shelter is seeing a trend many others are seeing across the country -- an intense influx of animals.
At Little Rock Animal Village there's too many animals coming in and not enough finding homes.
"For instance, 20 dogs will leave and 30 more will come in and these dogs are torn and broken down,” Bruce Stanfield, Little Rock Animal Village Animal Care Technician said.
Staff at Little Rock Animal Village confirm overpopulation worsened because of the pandemic and now they're spread thin, doubling crates, and even having to put more animals down.
“We have a lot of animals coming in and we're full every day," Little Rock Animal Services Manager Tracy Roark said.
At the animal village, overpopulation is something that staff like Bruce Stanfield knows all too well.
"We get new dogs in every day, all day long,” Stanfield said. “The influx is just a continuation of animals coming in, but we do the best we can to get them out."
These capacity issues are difficult for staff to see daily.
"It's a sad feeling and it takes a toll on us, it really does," Stanfield said.
Tracy Roark is the Little Rock animal services manager and said that overpopulation has piled on since the pandemic.
"The unsterilized animals that wouldn't get picked up have had litter after litter,” Roark said. “The problem that we're having is that throughout the United States, the same issues are coming up to where not as many animals are transported because all the shelters are full.”
In 2022 the Animal Village saw an intake of around 3,800 animals. This year, they're already on par to pass that up, expecting to be well over 4,000 animals.
This uptick is leaving staff to make tough decisions.
“It's hard on staff, especially when we have to euthanize animals just for space,” Roark said.
While putting animals down is never optimal, they don’t make the decision lightly.
“We make the decision based on aggression, health and how adoptable they are,” Roark said. “We do assessments of them to make sure that they're going to be a good fit into a family.”
Paired with other efforts, it’s still not enough to put a dent in capacity.
“We do the best we can to get them out of the shelter, we do free adoptions, fosters, transports, and it’s still not enough,” Stanfield said. “We have a difficult time keeping up with it.”
Throughout all this difficulty Roark said there is a proactive solution.
“Getting animals sterilized is key to stop this madness,” Roark said. “We can ship dogs, we can adopt dogs out, but sterilizing animals is the key to stop the overpopulation problem.”
They're turning to the public in hopes an increase in adoptions will alleviate overpopulation.
“Our animals here are vetted, have all their shots, everything,” Roark said. “Every animal that leaves the Little Rock Animal Village, whether that be through adoption, transfers, or rescue groups, they are sterilized because it's the key to putting an end to future generations of unwanted pets.”
Stanfield said the love he has for the animals is genuine and encourages possible adopters to add a friend to their home.
“On days where I'm at my lowest point, I can take one of these animals and spend a little time with them and it is so therapeutic,” Stanfield said. “Get yourself a pet, they’ll be your friend.”
The Little Rock Animal Village is having free adoption the weekend of October 7- 8.