Tulsa animal shelters ‘in crisis mode’ from pet overpopulation

By Samson Tamijani

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    TULSA, Oklahoma (KJRH) — The heat isn’t just affecting Green Country’s humans.

Tulsa Animal Welfare told 2 News its shelter on Erie Avenue is bursting with new arrivals every day with room and resources running out fast, and the heat makes conditions easier for disease spread.

In Tulsa, Alexandra Harris found herself being a foster dog mom after a severe thunderstorm last month brought two pups to her doorstep.

Harris quickly found the dogs, named Greta and Henry, were lacking a loving home and more critically, they needed to be fixed and vaccinated.

“Greta is a puppy, and I believe she was used for breeding. So I believe that was her second litter. She lost her babies,” Harris said.

“I have never met nicer dogs when they’re in the right situation and they feel comfortable. They’re traumatized so they need the right home, I think.”

Harris said she stepped up because the need it so great currently.

Shelters across Green Country, including at Tulsa Animal Welfare, have little to no room, according to TAW Manager Sherry Carrier.

“There’s definitely an overpopulation crisis for cats and dogs,” Carrier said. “It’s breeding season. Summer usually is.”

Last week the shelter took in 139 cats and dogs in total. Some were strays, some were surrendered, and some simply lost. That’s over capacity, Carrier said.

What’s worse, Carrier added, is that the week of the 4th of July is usually the busiest intake week of the year, and that’s next week.

“It’s just increasingly worse. This facility that we’re in currently is not up to date like it should be. It’s not as large as it needs to be,” she said.

Carrier’s department still has to raise $3.7 million in donations to help fund a building big enough to handle these surges.

The shelter and residents like Harris are pleading for the public to help in the most important ways.

“We do have some really great community members, and there is no way we can manage the population that we do without them,” Carrier said.

“It just really takes a community effort to remember to spay and neuter, and to not go try to buy puppies because there are so many great dogs at our shelters,” Harris said.

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