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ANIMAL

Maricopa County Animal Care needs help

Calling on the community

Posted 9/12/22

Maricopa County Animal Care and Control (MCACC) is facing a shelter capacity crisis.

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ANIMAL

Maricopa County Animal Care needs help

Calling on the community

Posted

Maricopa County Animal Care and Control (MCACC) is facing a shelter capacity crisis.

Currently,  shelters are housing 855 animals in 755 kennels, which means some dogs have to share a space in one kennel, and in other cases we’re having to split the kennels in two. 

While all shelter staff--including the administrative members and the leadership team--are helping with the morning and afternoon rounds of feeding and kennel cleaning, MCACC is also coming up with innovative solutions to combat this crisis. However, ultimately animal homelessness is a community issue that requires community support.

 “We cannot address this from within the shelter system alone, we need support directly from the community where animal homelessness begins, which is why we do everything we can to partner with the community," Michael Mendel, MCACC director said.

What MCACC is doing right now:

  • Waived adoption fees on most animals and free adoption events are planned through 2022
  • Reuniting owners with  lost pets. Now in its third month,  the Return to Owner Assistance Program helps reunite pets with owners facing financial difficulties. The program subsidizes shelter fees such as boarding, spay/neuter surgery, licensing, and Rabies vaccinations.

 Since July 1, the program has assisted:

  • Animals Returned to Owner: 149 animals (July: 83 animals, August: 66 animals)
  • Animals Sterilized through RTO subsidy: 102 animals (July: 56 surgeries, August: 46 surgeries)
  • Added 50 temporary kennel spaces outside at MCACC's West shelter facility with evaporative coolers to make dogs as comfortable as possible

How Maricopa County residents can help:

The community should exhaust every option prior to making an appointment to bring stray animals to shelters.

It has been proven that the quickest owned pet reunions begin with in-neighborhood methods such as posted paper flyers and local social media pages.

  • Take found stray animal to a local veterinarian for microchip scanning. If the pet is chipped this will begin the reunion process.
  • Add the pet to MCACC's Lost & Found interactive pet map
  • If the pet is not chipped, call 602-506-PETS to make a stray surrender appointment.
  • To help in person, consider volunteering to work directly within the shelter 
  • If you have capacity at home to foster shelter animals, visit Be a Hero - Foster today | Maricopa County, AZor use another reputable animal welfare organization.
  • Donate to any local animal welfare organization that provides free or low cost spau/neuter., microchipping, and licensing activities to stop this issue where it starts.