Humane societies nationwide are still playing catchup to heightened pet populations influenced by the COVID pandemic, and Kitsap Humane Society and Animal Control officials say it could be a long time before their workloads drop.
Animal Control director Chase Connolly told the Port Orchard City Council Sept. 10 that the local influx of pets and associated care started with the “national animal crisis” that began with the health-related shutdowns and isolations. “There is a large surplus of animals that are in need of going to the Humane Society from being strays to finding new homes or animals that are needing spay/neuter services or animals that are needing to be surrendered to the Humane Society because their owners are falling on hard times,” he said.
Stray animals received by KHS in Port Orchard nearly doubled from 65 in 2021 to 127 in 2022 while people began to return to a sense of normality. Connolly reported similar increases in all of its other jurisdictions, and he anticipates the numbers to continue rising. “We do anticipate for the year 2024 that our numbers will likely fall around that upper 120 to 130 range,” he said.
Annual cases investigated, which can range from noise complaints to animals running away or even abuse or neglect, have also increased. They went from 187 cases in 2022 to 230 in 2023, a 23% increase, and 208 cases have already been tallied as of Aug. 31 this year. “These numbers do illustrate the workflow that we’ve had,” Connolly said. “It shares across the other five jurisdictions that we enforce.”
KHS co-executive director Jaime Nocula spoke on efforts to respond to the needs of the increased pet population. The pandemic created a boom in adoptions but also a halt in the animal welfare field, particularly a loss of spay or neuter surgeries. That lack of access reportedly set animal welfare back decades.
“We have resourced our organization more today than we ever have as far as staffing power and volunteer power to help meet the demand, and we are still trying to get ahead of the curve. Even though things are opening up and seemingly normal,” we are still seeing that backlog of access to care.
