NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — A Nashville animal shelter is calling their “dangerous" level of overcrowding a crisis.
On Monday, News 2 went inside Metro Animal Care and Control and looked at their low adoption numbers with intake at an all-time high.
“We have animals coming out of our pores. We used to see maybe five to ten animals coming through our doors and now we are seeing upwards of 20 to 30 animals coming through our doors on a daily basis,” said Danielle Carter, Animal Care Supervisor at MACC.
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Carter said the intake numbers have gotten so high that at one point animals were turned away. “There were a couple of days this past week and the week before that where we had to physically close our intake doors just because we physically ran out of kennels specifically for our dogs."
In order to make it work, Carter told News 2 the kennels were divided in half to allow more space. “We are already at capacity for our dogs and we had to kind of come up with unique solutions to house dogs appropriately and safely and now we are running out of options for that."
However, it's not just dogs they are seeing an increase in because currently, it's kitten season.
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"We are seeing a lot of puppies, unaltered animals, so a lot of moms coming in with their puppies and kittens so it's adding more and more to our numbers,” Carter said.
Carter said, hopefully, they will have more space soon after Mayor Freddie O'Connell proposed half a million dollars in funding to start planning a new building earlier this year.
“It's stressful for us, for them, and for the community because when you have good Samaritans that want to help it's hard to say sorry, we can’t help right now.”
Currently, MACC has waived all adoption fees for animals at the shelter. To volunteer, foster, or adopt – click here.
