Local animal shelters are overrun with cats and kittens, many of them facing death as the shelters run out of room.
Four shelters in Baltimore City and Baltimore County collectively took in 1,410 cats and kittens last month, the most taken in a month this year, said Frank Branchini, executive director of the Humane Society of Baltimore County. He attributed the seasonal influx to cats? reproductive cycles and a sharp decline in adoptions ? a double whammy for shelters struggling to keep Fluffy alive and healthy.
“It?s a crisis in every sense of the word,” Branchini said. “We are trying desperately to place them.”
At the Humane Society of Harford County, executive director Tamara Zaluzney said staff had to convert the office conference room into a nursery for kittens. Virtually all female cats that are not spayed are arriving pregnant or with litters in tow, she said, and cats are getting euthanized on a regular basis.
Aggressive spay-and-neutering programs have kept the situation more manageable at the Howard County Animal Control and Adoption Center; still, administrator Deborah Baracho said, she would be “hard -pressed to find a shelter not having a problem.” There, she launched a program called “share a life” to take in animals from overcrowded shelters in other counties to curb euthanization.
The program has saved about 250 dogs, but only one cat, she said, because space is so limited.
“I hope there?s a point we can do it for cats, but I don?t want to get to the point where we have to euthanize because we?ve taken in too many,” Baracho said.
Examiner Staff Writer Sara Michael contributed to this report.
