This summer has been an extremely fast-paced season here at the shelter. As it should be, pets have been flying out the door – through adoptions, transfers to our sister shelters, and help from our rescue partners. Sadly, though, animals continue to pour in the door, leaving the staff at the Cumberland County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in a constant whirlwind of trying to address the needs of thousands of cats and dogs.
Our cages and kennels have been completely filled all summer long, and now, with the hurricanes in Texas and Florida, our options to move animals out to other organizations have dried up as those shelters and rescues are trying to absorb thousands of displaced animals from those disaster areas. What does this mean for the homeless pet here in our shelter? It means they need you more than ever.
You may have seen some local new stories about other shelters in New Jersey taking in shipments of animals from down South and out West; those shelters are the same shelters that typically take our overflow. This leaves us with no transfer options and completely dependent on adoptions. We normally send an average of 150 cats and dogs out to our partners every month, so you can imagine the pinch we’re in. More importantly, please try to imagine the pinch our homeless pets are in.
We get new animals in every single day of the year, but we also have some who have been sitting here, passed over time and again while others are chosen and whisked off to their new lives. The cute ones, the young ones, the ones that come in with a sob story behind them, are always the first to be chosen. It’s hard to watch dogs and cats whom we know to have wonderful personalities be left behind because they are Plain Janes or a little long in the tooth or, heaven forbid, have some pit bull mixed in somewhere.
We have little miss Nessa Rose who has been with us for almost two months now. She’s just a little over a year old and has a fantastic personality. Although she has the slighter build and pushed-in face of a boxer, she also has the misfortune of having some pit in her mix. And she has one of those faces “only a mother could love.” She’s truly one of the nicest dogs you’ll ever meet, but no one even notices her.
We have a wonderful classic tabby named Connie, who has been with us since July. Tired of being cooped up in her cage in the adoption room, she wheedled her way into the heart of one of our staff and has now taken up residence in her office. Connie is about 8 years old, so she’s a “mature adult.” Are you familiar with the pop song “All About That Bass”? Well, if she could sing, she’d be all about that song; she’s no “stick figure Barbie doll” and she rather likes to throw her weight around. Her age and her matronly figure have worked against her, making her another great pet who gets overlooked.
We also have kittens of every description, and dogs of every size and age, who need to be adopted. If we can just get through the next month or so, the number of incoming animals will slow down and our partners will be back to accepting our overflow. But for now, please consider making one of our homeless pets a success story by taking one home.