Rescues face a bigger challenge than a lack of funds

In which Jill bemoans decreasing donations, then moves on to the Real Problem.

In March 2023, a young Shepherd-Mal mix was found hit by a car and brought to the shelter by a good Samaritan. In the shelter’s medical ward away from public viewing, Buster—his two front legs badly injured—subsisted on pain meds and the cursory attention of overwhelmed volunteers. Despite his distress, he would hobble to the front of his kennel to greet visitors with a soft tail wag. We rescued him, funded his surgeries, showcased him online, and waited for the adoption applications to roll in.

They didn’t.

It’s not just about money.

Post-COVID, there’s a capacity crisis at animal shelters. More dogs are entering shelters than leaving. Fewer are finding homes, and more are dying. Shelter volunteer and data analyst Michelle Cornelius found a 30% increase in dog euthanasia across all six LA Animal Services shelters when comparing July 2023-June 2024 to the same period the previous year. In six of those months, euthanasia rates soared by 40% or more.

Perfectly good dogs are dying.

And then there’s funding. Donations are down, and expenses are up. While large national rescues with $100 million endowments and sad TV commercials continue to rake in cash, local rescues struggle to fundraise. Most of us have cut back on the number of animals we rescue simply to provide adequate care for those we already have.

But there’s a bigger challenge than funding and it’s this: we have nowhere to take the dogs we save.  

Right now, Outta the Cage has a list of 14 dogs lingering in shelters. We’ve met them, interacted with them, and want to help them. We’ve networked them. We’ve even taken them out of the shelter for medical treatment and adoption events. We know these dogs would be wonderful family pets.

But where are the families?

The market is saturated.

Southern California is a saturated market. Everyone who can take a dog has done it. To continue our mission, we’ve had to look farther afield: we’ve launched programs to transport adoptable dogs to areas where they are not only wanted but have the space to thrive.

For instance, our Gampr Scampr program sends livestock guardian dogs up to trainer Tom in northern California, where they receive the training to become exceptional working and protection dogs. This summer, our Moving Magical Mastiffs program saved over 20 mastiffs, sending them to eager fosters in Idaho who have both the love and the land to support them.

While these programs are logistically challenging and expensive (see It’s not just about money above), they have proven to be lifesaving. Dogs who were days or even hours away from euthanasia end up thriving.

We want this for EVERY shelter dog.

The playing field is shrinking.

With record shelter overcrowding and dwindling resources, the biggest challenges to finding placement for dogs have never been greater:

• There are no fosters. The shortage of foster homes is acute. Reasons for this include people downsizing into rentals that don’t allow pets; breed and weight restrictions; inability to commit to fostering long term; and the lack of formal foster programs at shelters.

• Fosters have restrictions. Not so long ago, it was a foregone conclusion that a foster would keep a dog until she was adopted. Nowadays, fosters require more flexibility and will often set terms on foster duration. This forces rescues to secure a backup foster in the increasingly likely event that the dog isn’t adopted in time. Which brings us to…

• There are no adopters. Housing issues (a Hill’s report found that 56 percent of families said they were likely to have at least one pet restriction in their housing), return-to-office mandates, and the prevalent surrender reasons of “moving” and “no time” leave fewer homes available for dogs. Large breed, senior, and medical dogs bear the brunt. We’re losing more of them, and we’re losing them faster.

• Boarding costs are soaring. Board and train costs are rising as rescues’ ability to afford them declines. Reputable facilities are scarce, and low-cost options often lead to hoarding situations where dogs are neglected and end up back at shelters, or dead.

• There are fewer rescues. Some rescues are suspending intake because their dogs aren’t moving. Others quietly rehome their remaining dogs or abandon them, leaving others to shoulder the burden and deepening the crisis of unwanted pets.

• National rescues are rescuing fewer dogs. The ASPCA’s annual report cited veterinary care, behavior rehabilitation, and animal cruelty cases as top programs for 2023, with nary an accounting of actual shelter saves. Indeed, other national animal welfare groups have pivoted away from on-the-ground rescue work to community outreach, education, and legislation support. Some continue to cherry-pick adoptable dogs from shelters, leaving seniors, medical cases, and behavior dogs behind.  

In our overflowing shelters, a dog may find himself in a small kennel with one or two other dogs. Contagious diseases like kennel cough are more prevalent, as are behavior issues due to “high FAS” (fear, anxiety, and stress).

Yet owners surrendering their pets take the word “shelter” literally and assume the term “no kill” means that their local shelter can re-home every dog. Meanwhile, shelter dogs deteriorate in their kennels as volunteers and rescuers make heart-wrenching decisions about which dogs to save and which dogs to leave behind.

There is hope.

Despite these challenges, we’re exploring innovative solutions to save more shelter dogs. Co-fostering, where two families share the responsibility of a dog, is not only effective but often preferred by busy households. Both ground and air transport options are available to move dogs to areas with more resources.  Community members are stepping up, providing temporary care for stray dogs and using dedicated social media sites to reunite them with their owners.

Still, the cliches — “there’s someone out there for every dog”— feel increasingly meaningless. Shelter volunteers, who provide invaluable enrichment to these dogs, are facing the harsh reality of saying goodbye to those who run out of time. Compassion fatigue is creeping in and many are contemplating quitting.

Buster waited for 14 long months for a home. No one wanted a large shepherd mix, however bright and engaging, with a permanent limp. Thankfully he ended up in a wonderful home – mine. But rescuers keeping their dogs is neither practical nor scalable. Sadly, for now, killing good dogs is.