Wake County animal advocates plead for bigger animal center with current facility regularly at overcapacity
Wake County’s Animal Center is in crisis mode. On Tuesday, the center announced owners will no longer be able to surrender dogs due to the shelter being well over capacity.
It's nothing new for the shelter, which had to close at various points in 2023, but the strain put on local animal rescue groups sometimes goes unnoticed.
Animal Services director Jennifer Federico said it's because animals aren’t moving out fast enough as Wake County’s population continues to grow. Federico mentioned this being in the budget for next year in an effort to build a new facility.
"The animals aren't moving out as fast," Frederico said. "We're getting more needy animals, medically and behaviorally."
Recent developments have led to questions over whether Wake County leaders and commissioners are considering investing in a new facility, along with other amenities.
A look on the WRAL Facebook page shows many viewers concerned about pets being abandoned now that pet drop-offs aren’t an option. With ongoing capacity challenges, a county commissioner said building a new animal center has been in the budget for years but finding a site that meets all the requirements is difficult.
"For the past three years we have had $40 million in the budget to purchase land and start building a new animal center," Wake County Commissioner Vickie Adamson said.
Adamson said there's no way to expand the current building and they are landlocked. The search is geared toward finding a centralized location that has enough space. They've been actively looking for three years now.
"The challenge is where do you put it? Animal centers are noisy," Adamson said.
WRAL News asked to speak with the Wake County manager about the matter, but the county provided Adamson for this story.
Nicole Kincaid is the founder of Perfectly Imperfect Pups and also feeling the effects of the closure. She already has 60 fosters of her own.
Kincaid said she was upset and scared at Tuesday's news from the animal center.
"In the span of 24 hours we have gotten seven requests for surrenders," Kincaid said. "This is only gonna get worse."
"As a rescue, we can only do so much," Kincaid said. "We are not government-funded and we do not have facilities."
Adamson said the county's hands were tied and the decision was down to stopping surrenders or euthanizing animals, which they haven't had to do in eight years and view as a last-resort option, even at overcapacity.
"This is nothing we wanted to do, we feel forced to have to do this," Adamson said.
There are 128 rescue groups in the area that are active transfer sites, according to Wake County for Pets.
Adamson said the short-term solutions are more prospective owners using pet adoption and more people getting their pets fixed.
In 2023, the center took in 2,612 animals between July 1 and Sept. 30. That's a 16% jump from the 2,245 animals it took in during the same period in 2022.
There are 132 dog kennels available at the Wake County Animal Center currently. They will still take in strays and lost animals.
Regarding the new policy, exceptions are made for pet owners who adopted a pet from the Wake animal center, who can surrender the animal.
Resources for re-homing pets
The Wake County Animal Center has a website with more resources for rehoming your pet.
It may seem overwhelming, but there are a lot of resources to help you rehome your pet quickly and safely. If you don't know where to start, check out these websites:
You can also use Facebook to find a good home for your pet. Check out these groups:
