BRYANT, Arkansas — Across Arkansas, animal shelters have been dealing with overcrowding and the issues of whether or not to euthanize.
Bryant Animal Control has been doing "intake diversion" which is the idea that only the most susceptible animals are taken into the shelter while the others are kept in the hands of the community until an owner can be found.
"That's not what we want to see and that's what's been trending over the last couple years, is that our intakes are up and our euthanasias are up because adoptions are down," said Tricia Power, the director of Bryant Animal Control.
Each year, Bryant Animal Control could see as many as 1,000 to 1,500 animals come through the shelter, and with only a couple dozen kennels it can be tough to house them.
So, Power has implemented different programs to try and make that happen.
In their scan-to-save program, businesses across Bryant have microchip scanners. If someone finds a lost animal they can go to a business to see if there's a microchip to find their owner.
"We have them at all the fire stations here in Bryant. We also have them at several of the grooming shops and some other businesses around town," said Power.
Bryant Animal Control also has the First-48 program.
If somebody finds an animal out in the community and they already have it in their care Bryant asks them if they can hold on to that animal for the first 48 hours after you find it.
This is a program Bryant adopted from the City of Cabot. They found out that if an animal stays within two miles of its home then it's twice as likely to be reunited with its family.
The shelter has also accepted a grant of $12,000 from the Best Friends Animal Society to microchip Bryant animals for free through the use of vouchers.
"So, what we've done is partnered with our low-cost spay/neuter clinic that's operated by the Humane Society of Saline County. We're still working out all the details of all of that, but we are kicking it off. In fact, our first animal got microchipped today and we are very excited," said Power.
The shelter also has a foster program, which allows people in the community to take home an animal for short periods of time until they are adopted.