Home for the holidays: Wake, Cumberland shelters urge people to adopt dogs and cats
Cumberland and Wake animal shelters are urging people to adopt a new pet over the holiday season.
"We had a very busy November and December, so our shelter is very full,” said Cumberland County Animal Services Director Elaine Smith. “Some of these animals have been through tough times and we would love to see them have a wonderful new home for the holidays.”
The Fayetteville animal shelter at 4704 Corporation Drive is open for in-person adoptions on Thursday, Dec. 22, and again Dec. 28 to 31. Hours are 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday to Friday and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays. The shelter will reopen after the new year.
You can see a gallery of adoptable animals online. The adoption fee is $100 for dogs and $70 for cats.
Wake County also faces an urgent need for adoptions. It's been six years since the Wake County Animal Center had to euthanize animals due to lack of space, but the shelter could lose that streak as stray and surrendered pets are pushing the shelter over capacity.
Last week, there were 87 dogs in the facility and 61 in the non-public rooms. The shelter is open for adoptions daily from noon to 6 p.m., seven days a week. The shelter is located at 820 Beacon Lake Drive, near the intersection of I-440 and New Bern Avenue in Raleigh.
There are so many dogs and cats looking for their forever home this holiday season. Check out the adoption gallery or stop by in person.
Once the shelter runs out of kennels, animals on the adoption floor will be euthanized first.
Dr. Jennifer Federico, director of the Wake County Animal Center, is pleading for owners to cancel their surrender appointments with the shelter, saying there is an extremely high chance your pet will be euthanized if you choose to surrender them at this time.
“Appointments for families who want to give up their animals are booked full for the next month. Allergies, new babies and moving are amongst some of the common reasons that force families to give up their pets, but we really need families to try to plan and re-home their pets themselves. Shelters are full across the country, please don’t enter your pet into this already overwhelmed system.”
"What we want is for the public to first try," Federico said. "They can bring the dog in, the public can. We’re just trying not to have the ACOs responding to every single call without the person trying to find the owner because a lot of times they live down the block."
Rehoming sites, such as rehome.adoptapet.com, can help you find potential adopters for your pets. There are multiple Facebook groups dedicated to rehoming pets, such as North Carolina Pet Rehoming and Rehoming Pets - Eastern NC.
Please reach out to local rescues for assistance. Rescue groups can be found online, and some may be able to help with rehoming.
If you find a lost or stray dog, try to find the owners. Vet offices can scan the dog for a microchip. Post on neighborhood social media like NextDoor or your Ring app, on lost and found pet Facebook pages or Triangle Lost Pets.
