CMPD Animal Care and Control reaches capacity for dogs, asks for the community’s help

Dog kennels at the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department’s Animal Care and Control have been packed all summer, and now the shelter can’t take in any more canines.

The shelter managed to maintain enough space until around 2 p.m. Thursday, when a co-worker told division spokeswoman Melissa Knicely that there were no more dog kennels for adoptions or strays.

“This situation has quickly become urgent,” Josh Fisher, CMPD Animal Care and Control director, said in a news release.

It isn’t uncommon for shelters to be more crowded during summer months, but the situation has reached an “alert level,” Knicely said.

Fisher is urging community members to consider adopting an animal this weekend or take a dog on a “staycation” for several days so the shelter is able to care for new intakes.

“We know that our community cares and has always responded quickly to our shelter pets in times of desperate need,” he said. “This is one of those times we really need help.”

CMPD Animal Care and Control previously pleaded to the community to adopt animals due to space concerns in 2019.

Some ways the community can help the animals in the shelter’s care is by:

▪ Taking a dog on “staycation” for a long weekend: This option is available to people who can’t commit to adopting a pet but want to help. Those people take a dog home for up to five days to give it a break from the shelter environment and provide it the benefits and experience of living in a loving home.

▪ Fostering a dog: Consider a longer-term foster assignment. Fostering reduces long-term boarding of animals that can suffer from kennel stress, which often leads to behavioral issues. “Foster-centric” is a trending term that describes a new model for animal sheltering. It puts animals who are ready for adoption in homes in the community, leaving space at the shelter for the animals who need special care or management.

▪ Adopting: Adopting one animal can save two lives: by saving the one you adopt and the one that takes its place.

The shelter’s address is 8315 Byrum Dr. Hours are 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekends.