Full capacity at Charlotte animal shelter highlights need for fostering and adoption

CHARLOTTE — The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department’s Animal Care and Control recently announced they’re at full capacity, but there’s a way to help without the full commitment of owning a dog.

A Hail Mary push on Thursday gave the shelter a little more room and 34 lucky dogs found temporary homes just in time for the holiday weekend. Channel 9′s Gina Esposito met with volunteers like Jessica Francis, whose social media sharing encouraged people to show up for Thursday night’s dog foster event.

“It’s good to see, but I’m afraid that after the five days, you know, we’re going to start having a lot of dogs come back,” Francis said.

The shelter explained to Esposito that if more dogs do not find permanent homes, they will be forced to put them down. Between the months of January and March of this year, the shelter has had to euthanize over 200 dogs. That’s 30 more than this time in 2022.

“It’s just really hard because we put a lot of the staff and the volunteers put their hearts into these dogs, and it’s really hard to see them being put down,” Francis said. “If people could come out, please just take a dog for a staycation, you save a life.”

According to Francis, hosting a dog for a five-day staycation can help you and the shelter gauge whether or not a dog would be a good fit in your home. This gives the dogs a better chance of being adopted into a forever home.

If you’re interested in adopting, fostering, or volunteering, the shelter will be open Saturday and Easter Sunday, opening at 11 a.m. and closing at 5 p.m.

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