Imperial Valley shelters running out of room for pets

Some pet owners leaving their animals behind for while traveling - News 11's Wiley Jawhary reports

IMPERIAL, Calif. (KYMA, KECY) - Summer is here, and with eased COVID-19 restrictions, many are making up for missed travel. But, paying the price in the Imperial Valley, are their pets.

The Humane Society of Imperial County says some pet owners have been turning in their animals to shelters. Now the shelters and Imperial County Animal Control are running out of room. They say they're overwhelmed.

Humane Society executive director Devon Apodaca says this is the worst it's ever been.

“We had to ask pet owners, are you getting your pet for travel or holiday, and many of them have told us yes, that is why we need to get rid of the dog or pet," he said.

Apodaca suggests pet owners hire pet sitters, or send their pets to day care, as opposed to giving their pets away.

“We have tried to reach out to the pet owners and I would say 95% of the time, they don’t show up, or they even hang up on us,” he said.

Apodaca fears that some are just letting their dogs and cats loose on the streets intentionally. He says that the bigger problem is that other animal control shelters are euthanizing dogs and cats simply because of time and capacity.

“They have to euthanize animals for time and space when there are animals just coming in coming in coming in and they are not moving, unfortunately that is the sad reality,” he said.

The Humane Society of Imperial wants to make it clear that they don’t euthanize animals. For other shelters that do, Apodaca says the attention shouldn’t be on them but rather pet owners. He says that they should take responsibility for their pets and explore alternative options like daycares.