The COVID-era animal overadoption — and resulting overabandonment — is still creating havoc and heartbreak at SF pet shelters, which are seeing the highest euthanization rates since 2013 because people are giving up dogs like mad.
San Francisco is still suffering from the aftermath of too many people adopting pets during the pandemic and then abandoning them. And this continues to be the case even years after the worst of the pandemic, perhaps even because we are a couple years out from the worst of the pandemic. The Chronicle examines this in a new analysis today that finds San Francisco is euthanizing more dogs than it has in any year in the last 12 years.
We’re completely full of dogs (again…) Please delay surrendering dogs until after Monday, March 24. We’ve been dealing with shelter overcrowding for the last few years and there is no easy fix. You can help us tremendously by adopting one of our fabulous dogs! pic.twitter.com/MTp2qQr94R
— SF Animal Care & Control (@SFACC) March 20, 2025
It’s no secret why. As SF Animal Care & Control notes in the above tweet from March, they’re dealing with pretty epic levels of shelter overcrowding. It is of course also a factor that the cost of veterinary care has skyrocketed, and some people just can’t afford thousands of dollars (or even tens of thousands of dollars) to care for an ailing dog. But it’s also a matter of timing. Many veterinarians had to close up shop early in the pandemic, and neutering kind of came to a halt. That’s led to a sort of puppy “baby boom,” that’s currently producing tragic consequences for many of the dogs…