NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Michaela Schommer with the Hutchinson Animal Shelter told Hutch Post that it just isn't possible for her to save every animal that comes into the shelter, as much as she and her staff want to.
"It's heartbreaking and I think a lot of members of the public that don't necessarily work directly in animal welfare, they don't see where our problem lies," Schommer said. "They don't see why euthanasia rates are going up. They don't understand why we can't save everything as we say we want to and we try. Logistics is the best word. For every, when we're full and we have say 45 dogs in our care, which is over our current capacity, for every one dog that leaves our care, I promise you there's at least two or three coming in the same day. So it's just a revolving door and the numbers are just never getting down to where it's sustainable or manageable."
Quite a few of the animals coming in are not strays.
"Keeping the pets you have is huge," Schommer said. "Just here at our Hutchinson Animal Shelter, just slightly less than half of the animals coming into our care, it's about 42, 43% of the animals coming into our care are owner-surrendered pets. They are not stray dogs and cats coming in."
They are getting better at finding homes for the animals they take in.
"Four years ago, we had only about a 65% live release rate, meaning animals leaving our care alive," That was four years ago. The past three years, we've been roughly around the 85% live release rate. And some months we actually hit the 90 and above, which is deemed the no-kill status. This year, we're seeing a slight dip in that. We're about the 83% mark right now."
To find out more about adoption, go to https://www.hutchinsonanimalservices.com/.