(Evansville, IN): The Indiana Coalition of Animal Welfare Professionals alongside 22 shelters and rescue organizations across the State of Indiana are coming together to designateNovember 5-12, 2023, Adopt a Hoosier Shelter Pet Week, to bring awareness to the growing public problem of pet homelessness and the crisis shelters and rescues are facing. Indiana shelters and rescuers call the community to act now to adopt, foster, donate, and/or volunteer during Adopt a Hoosier Shelter Pet Week to help alleviate this crisis and reverse the monumental steps taken back in saving the lives of homeless pets.
The following local shelters will be participating during their normal business hours with waived or reduced adoption fees:
Vanderburgh Humane Society (VHS)Â (www.vhslifesaver.org)
Evansville Animal Care & Control (www.24petconnect.com)
It Takes a Village Rescue (www.itvrescue.org)
The VHS and Evansville Animal Care & Control will be offering FREE adoptions for ALL dogs, cats, and kittens of all ages during the November 5-12 event. It Takes a Village will be offering FREE adoptions for cats over 1 year, and $100 adoptions for dogs over 1 year.
Shelters and rescue groups are experiencing an overwhelming number of animals entering the system. The increased intake of animals and the reduction in adoptions is being driven by inflation, rising costs of food and supplies, the lack of affordable pet inclusive housing, and scarcity of veterinary resources. As a result, shelters are overburdened, over their capacity for care, and healthy pets are being euthanized for space. This is dangerously reversing decades of work to save the lives of healthy, adoptable pets.
According to Shelter Animals Count (SAC), the most trusted and current source for animal sheltering data, alarming trends are emerging in which more dogs are entering the shelters than leaving, less are leaving with a live outcome, and shelter length of stay has tripled.
“The crisis shelters are facing does not originate within the shelters,†said Stephanie Filer, Executive Director of Shelter Animals Count. “Shelters need help now more than ever. This is a community problem that requires a community solution.â€
Community problems require all stakeholders to collaborate and collectively solve for improved quality of life. Building humane communities where healthy, adoptable pets are not euthanized, but adopted into loving homes is the preference of our society. In this time of crisis, we need the community now more than ever to open their hearts and homes to a shelter pet in need so we can ensure we are on the pathway to preserving those humane communities across the State of Indiana.
