Shelter overcrowding and a lack of resources can lead to tons of otherwise healthy cats and dogs being euthanized. The ASPCA is working to limit this issue with its Animal Relocation Program, which has successfully relocated more than 200,000 animals since its inception in 2014.
“Animal relocation is critical to ensuring that we give all of the animals in our care a second chance,” Oktibbeha County Humane Society board member Michele Anderson told NowThis.
The ASPCA partners with facilities in areas with high shelter populations and transports animals to communities where there is a larger market for adoption. According to Anderson, this tends to mean moving dogs and cats from shelters in the South to areas up north.
“Many of the animals that come into our shelter are found wandering the streets. They’re hungry. They’re full of parasites,” said Anderson. “Some are injured or sick. We are fortunate in that animal relocation gives us the space and allows us the resources to be able to focus on these animals that aren’t fortunate enough to go on transport immediately.”
“We are extremely grateful to the ASPCA and this Animal Relocation Program for the opportunities that it provides the animals in our care,” she continued. “It benefits the transported animals because it gives them a second chance. They get adopted in great homes all over the United States. For the shelter animals that are here, that remain here, it opens up kennel space, it reduces overcrowding and, of course, unnecessary euthanasia.”
Anderson says the ultimate goal of the ASPCA and its Animal Relocation Program is to put the program out of business by ending the need for animal relocation altogether. “The best way that the community can help is by spaying and neutering their pets,” she said. “The only way that we are going to solve the pet overpopulation problem in the South is through aggressive spay and neuter efforts, which is something we are working on. But in the meantime, the only way that we can continue to save the thousands of lives that come through our doors each year is through animal transport.”
Find out how you can help support the ASCPA during the Subaru Share the Love Event by visiting subaru.com/share.
