This is an urgent plea to our community, volunteers, and animal placement partners who have space. Effective immediately, all adoption fees are being waived until the shelter can reach a manageable capacity. Pet adopters must be 18 or older and show identification with proof of current address. All adoptable cats and dogs are vaccinated, microchipped, and sterilized before going home. The shelter (3400 NE 53rd Avenue, Gainesville) is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., excluding holidays.
Volunteer dog walkers are also desperately needed, and fostering opportunities with a one-month minimum commitment are available.
In recent months, intakes have exceeded outcomes (adoptions, transfers, and owner reclaims). A recent case in Micanopy resulted in the confiscation of 23 additional animals. Springtime has brought with it the usual overabundance of kittens & puppies. All of this has contributed to overcrowding at the shelter, with upwards of 50 dogs above what the current shelter was designed to hold. And the County, like other businesses, has been affected by the nationwide staffing shortage. These circumstances are not unique to Alachua County.
“There is an overabundance of animals in our southern shelters,” said Cathy Bissell, founder of the BISSELL Pet Foundation, in a recent online article. “Shelters that have not euthanized for space in years are now having to make those painful choices,” Bissell continued.
For more information, contact Alachua County Communications Director Mark Sexton at 352-264-6979 or
msexton@alachuacounty.us.
