When more than 180 animals arrived at the Sioux Falls Area Humane Society last week, it rapidly exceeded capacity.
That meant a facility designed to accommodate 300 animals was forced to adjust to find places for 400 — the highest number so far this year.
“We get creative, and so our hope is that folks come in and adopt,” executive director Jamie Gates Grieve said. “We have a lot of fosters coming in to help, so we’re able to go with them because we wouldn’t have enough kennels for that many animals.”
This week, the surge kept coming. Tuesday brought nine chihuahuas in need of adoption. In August, more than 30 dachshunds went up for adoption at the same time.
‘It’s just kind of been consistent that way, where we have more coming in than going out,” Gates Grieve said. “It can be a lot of different things. It’s surrenders, we do have seizure cases, sometimes folks just don’t have the ability to care for the animals anymore.”
The influx of animals has meant the Humane Society’s resources are stretched thin. Late last week, the nonprofit put out a cry for help with laundry as its washers, dryers and staff struggle to keep up with needed towels, blankets and bedding.
“It takes so much more time to care for over 400 animals, and trying to get to the laundry isn’t as easy,” Gates Grieve said. “When we put the plea out, folks stepped up, and it was amazing. By the next morning, all of that was taken care of. It’s unbelievable. When we reach out to the community, they always step up to help.”…