Not every animal makes it out of the shelter — especially when the kennels are full and more strays are coming in by the day.
But an email blast that went out this week to volunteers at Palm Beach County Animal Care and Control left many in tears, worried that the dogs they walk, feed and “love on” will be killed to make room for new ones in need of a kennel.
The shelter, which now cares for 228 dogs and has only 144 kennels, is facing an overcrowding crisis, Assistant Director David Walesky told the South Florida Sun Sentinel.
That means dogs with medical issues or behavioral problems will be put down to make room for more animals. Dogs that are heartworm-positive or have been in the shelter too long are now at risk.
“Euthanasia is a tough conversation,” Walesky said. “It comes with an emotional impact on staff and volunteers. We have a big volunteer program and they come here and fall in love with our dogs. No one wants to do this. But this needs to be done to run an efficient animal shelter. We can accommodate 150 dogs. And that’s with no room for incoming dogs.”
The shelter, located at 7100 Belvedere Road in West Palm Beach, typically takes in more than 10,000 dogs and cats each year. But Director Jan Steele expects that number to hit 11,000 by the end of this year.
“Our numbers hit rock bottom during COVID and they’re going back up,” she said. “We’re having problems with medium to large dogs and people in economic crisis releasing their dogs. They don’t want to have to face the embarrassment of coming in to surrender their animals. And we have to catch them as strays.”
Who stays, who goes?
The shelter sent an email to volunteers and rescue groups on behalf of Steele Tuesday letting them know the kill policy was being modified and would take effect on Wednesday.
“Our focus is on lifesaving efforts for those animals likeliest to be adopted quickly and which have the least need for behavior modification and/or medical care,” Steele wrote. “This will allow us to continue to provide space and care for the large numbers of incoming animals to our open admission shelter.”
The email lists the animals at risk for euthanasia: heartworm-positive dogs; animals with multiple medical issues; animals that have been in shelter care for an extended period of time and have no promising adoption or rescue prospects; dogs that are not showing well; dogs with a bite history and dogs that present a safety risk for volunteers or shelter staff.
The shelter, which can house 130 cats, had 121 cats on Wednesday.
The high number of dogs is creating a more urgent issue, Walesky said. When asked how many dogs would be euthanized in the coming days, Walesky said he wasn’t sure.
“We’re constantly assessing our inventory — their medical prognosis, their behavior in the kennel,” he said. “And then we’re having to make tough decisions. We’re over capacity by 80 dogs. Does that mean 80 dogs will be euthanized? Absolutely not. But we have a lot of challenges in trying to care for those dogs.”
‘We can’t warehouse dogs’
The email blast sent shock waves throughout the shelter, said Tibor Feigel, a dog trainer from Palm Beach Gardens who has volunteered there for 13 years now.
“When they sent out the email, I cried,” he said. “And I don’t easily cry. It’s not the shelter’s fault. They have to take every dog in. They can’t turn people away. But we can’t warehouse dogs. Humane euthanasia is the only way if we don’t have enough fosters.”
Heather Smith, a real estate agent from West Palm Beach and lead volunteer at the shelter, says she, too, walked out of the shelter in tears on Wednesday. For the past seven years, Smith has put in 20 hours a week at the shelter, getting kisses from the dogs, petting them and loving on them, as she puts it.
When she got home, Smith turned to Facebook Live to make an impassioned appeal to animal lovers to help save lives by adopting, fostering or volunteering at the shelter.
“It has been a crazy 24 hours,” she said, holding back tears. “On average, 15 dogs a day are coming into the shelter. All these animals keep coming into the shelter and there is nowhere to put them. Every dog that’s not perfect is on the chopping block. But that’s not the shelter’s fault. The influx of animals coming in is the problem. Yeah, they are killing animals. There is no other option. They need help.”
The overcrowding problem is not unique to Palm Beach County. It’s happening all over the country, experts say.
More than 4.4 million pets wound up in shelters around the nation last year, according to Best Friends Animal Society. That’s an upswing of 70,000 pets compared to 2021.
Florida ranks fourth in the nation for its kill rate, with more than 20,000 animals dying at shelters, said Fraily Rodriguez, senior director of national programs for Best Friends.
“What we’re seeing around the country is short staff, increase of intakes and a small decrease in adoptions,” he said. “And that’s leaving shelters with dogs that are staying longer. Post-Covid, we are not getting back to our old normal. Overall I think people are nervous about the economy so that’s not helping the adoption side of things.”
Can’t adopt? Try fostering
In Palm Beach County, the county-run shelter has seen more strays coming through the door and fewer people come in to adopt, Walesky said.
“Rescue groups are full too, so they’re pulling at a slower level than they used to,” he said. “The animals aren’t moving. The economy has always played a role. Right now dog food costs more and vet care costs more. And it’s harder to take care of a pet these days. Some people might have to move and the place won’t take pets. There are so many reasons why people surrender a pet.”
Some dogs don’t do well in the shelter environment, making it that much harder to find them homes, Walesky says. After five stressful months at the shelter, they might start spinning around in the cage or chewing on the bars. But if they get a foster home, it can all change.
“A lot of those dogs are wonderful outside the cage, but once they’re back in the cage, they might act scary,” he said. “They call it barrier reactive. They act like tough guys behind the fence, but once they’re out they’re sweethearts.”
Feigel also sees fostering as a great way to save more dogs.
“These dogs need to go into a home and not just be locked up,” he said. “Some people are not going to click with them, but some are going to fall in love.”
Susannah Bryan can be reached at or on Twitter @Susannah_Bryan
