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WEST VALLEY CITY — Dozens of dogs and cats are seeking love and families at the West Valley animal shelter.
The West Valley City Animal Shelter is filled to capacity and is hoping to find homes for these animals soon. The shelter currently has 87 dogs, the most the shelter has ever had at one time.
West Valley Animal Services Director Melanie Bennet said because there are so many dogs, the shelter is doubling up dogs in kennels to house them all, even though the kennels are meant for just one dog.
"We are completely full," Bennett said. "It's just been slowly growing and we've had that for about the last year. We know it's becoming a nationwide problem — it's not just us. Most of the shelters and rescues that we work with in the valley are completely full."
The shelter brought some dogs to the West Valley City PetSmart located at 3081 S. 5600 West as part of an adoption event. The dogs will be there from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday to give people an opportunity to adopt them.
During the month of February, all adoptions at the West Valley City Animal Shelter will only have a $14 fee.
"If you can open your home at this time… they will return the love tenfold. Rescuing a dog will change your life," West Valley City Animal Services said in a social media post. The dogs from the shelter are updated on their vaccinations, can be spayed/neutered and have the option of being microchipped.
Bennett said the shelter is still taking in strays, but they currently are not accepting owner turnovers "because we're so full." She suggests if someone is wanting to give up their dog, they use social media and family to get the word out to find a new home for their animal.
The Humane Society of Utah also recently asked for help from the community after finding its kennels so full that the group is struggling to take in any more dogs. The Humane Society has said it has helped take in animals from shelters in Salt Lake County all the way down to Hurricane.
Best Friends Animal Society executive director Michelle Dossin told KSL NewsRadio in January that maxed-out shelters are a "full-fledged crisis." She said many shelters are over capacity and are "needing to make really difficult decisions about life-saving."
Over the past year, some Utah shelters, like the Weber County Animal Shelter and South Salt Lake Animal Services, had times where they couldn't take in any more dogs and didn't have enough staff members to keep the kennels clean.
Anyone interested in adopting an animal can go to the West Valley City Animal Shelter between 1-4 p.m. Monday through Friday to see the cats and dogs available.
Contributing: Mark Wetzel, Alexandrea Bonilla, Mike Anderson, Michael Houck, Lauren Steinbrecher
