TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTWO/WAWV) — The Terre Haute Humane Society added 10 new dogs to its care Monday afternoon, bringing the total to more than 200.
The shelter is now well over double its capacity, and is looking for fosters and adoptees to help lessen this current strain on staff and volunteers.
“We’re in a position now where physically there’s no space to put wire crates, which is where we’re having to house some of the dogs in now,” THHS Volunteer Coordinator Maggie Wheeler said. “That’s not a long-term solution. We have some dogs that have been in wire crates since January.”
On July 14, THHS’ management team got a call from Vigo County’s Animal Control unit saying there were 10 dogs that needed to be brought to the shelter from a home seizure.
Monday afternoon, 10 additional dogs arrived in Animal Control vehicles from another seizure; these dogs had fleas and were severely malnourished, but luckily all tested negative for parvovirus.
Wheeler said an uptick in animals being dumped at the shelter is exacerbating an already stressful situation.
“I know people struggle with economics and such,” Wheeler said. “But we can’t be the first solution. I mean, we need people to try to keep them in their home if they can and then we should really be the last resort.”
The future low cost vet clinic on the THHS property will help with spay and neuter needs in the larger community, but Wheeler said the current situation doesn’t have an end in sight.
Volunteers are now taking care of up to double their normal number of animals, adding to the emotional toll of seeing the animals in turmoil.
“It’s difficult for the volunteers, it’s difficult for the staff and it’s difficult for the animals,” Wheeler said, choking up. “You know, we try to help as much as we can, but we can only do so much.”
Wheeler said adoptions are always the best way to help get animals out of the shelter, but fostering is a great need right now, too.
To view adoptable animals as well as those available for fostering, visit the Terre Haute Humane Society’s website here.
THHS will once again be a participating shelter in WTWO/WAWV’s Clear the Shelters event on August 19.
