SANTA MONICA – Animal Shelter reached its capacity for dogs last week and while a combination of efforts have since cleared room for new four-legged friends, officials said the shelter is preparing for additional intakes caused by seasonal fluctuations and ongoing economic conditions.
Martin Hernandez, lead animal control officer, said the shelter is operating at about 80% occupancy for dogs, while cat housing remains at seasonal norms for now. However, he said the volume of surrender inquiries (people who want to voluntarily give up their pets) in recent weeks raised concerns about the shelter being overwhelmed.
Hernandez said the shelter receives several surrender calls daily, most of them from people who do not live in Santa Monica. He attributed the trend in part to capacity issues at other facilities…