LAURA CLARK GETS UP AT THE crack of dawn every day, before putting on a pair of well-worn working boots and heading down to Colleton County Animal Shelter in Walterboro, South Carolina.
Clark and her team of 15 paid staff then take on the enormous task of cleaning up after, exercising, arranging veterinary care for, and feeding the more than 300 domestic animals ranging from cats to rabbits they've rescued from across their South Carolina county.
Surprisingly, there is one creature that by far outnumbers all the other animals in need residing at Clark's shelter: dogs.
"We only have 65 permanent dog kennels. Technically, we would keep five open at all times for new dogs, so our capacity is really 60. At the moment we have 195 dogs in our care, 141 of which are at the shelter full time," Clark, director of Colleton County Animal Shelter, told Newsweek. She added that dogs also take up half of the shelter staff's workload.
Indeed, Clark's shelter has been over capacity for two years now, she said, and her staff of 15, including four animal control officers, are now caring for 81 more dogs than they have the capacity for. Historically, the shelter has welcomed even numbers of cats and dogs, but dogs have largely exceeded the number of incoming cats since 2021.
While the shelter may simply look busy to outsiders, Clark said the root cause of the overload shelters are now facing is not intake numbers or return rates, which she said have remained in line with pre-pandemic levels, but rather a concerning drop in adoptions.
"When I first started working, the shelter took in over 3,000 pets per year, which has come down to around 2,000. The numbers have drastically reduced," Clark said.
She said adoptions, particularly of dogs, have plummeted nationwide for reasons ranging from sky-high living costs in the current economic environment to unethical breeding.
Denne historien er fra December 22, 2023-utgaven av Newsweek Europe.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent ? Logg på
Denne historien er fra December 22, 2023-utgaven av Newsweek Europe.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
Falling for Romance
A new book, Nora Ephron at the Movies, celebrates the writer/director best known for her iconic rom-coms and strong female characters
Cracking the Norse Code
Walrus DNA has shown that Vikings were likely the first to have encountered Indigenous North Americans
Monumental Shift
The discovery of 165-million-year-old crystals Easter Island has upended the longheld notion of how the Earth's \"conveyor belt\" moves
'OUR FOREIGN POLICY AND DOMESTIC REFORMS ARE TWO SIDES OF THE SAME COIN'
It is a well-known fact across the globe that the North Korean regime is irrational and unpredictable, but we have been consistent in strengthening our defense posture against the threat from North Korea since the Korean War, and I believe that their conventional capability is much inferior to that of the Korean military.
'They Read My Eulogy As I Lay in an Open Grave'
Like Paris Hilton, Natasia Pelowski claims she was subjected to abuse at a teenage therapy program
Russian Economy Faces 'Burnout'
Vladimir Putin admits difficulties” as the country’s key interest rate reaches a historic high
China's 'Silent Chemical War'
The U.S. must investigate Beijing's role in the manufacturing of fentanyl that is killing Americans, says one mom whose daughter died after accidentally taking the illicit substance
HARSH HEADWINDS
President Yoon Suk Yeol's BATTLE to reform a South Korea beset with structural problems under the specter of an increasingly aggressive neighbor to THE NORTH
Bridget Everett
BRIDGET EVERETT NEVER THOUGHT SHE'D BE THE LEAD OF A TV SHOW. \"I come from the downtown world in New York, a cabaret singer, and these things just don't happen, you don't find yourself with three seasons of HBO.
Amber Ruffin
A LATE-NIGHT COMEDY SHOW ON CNN? YES, and it's a game show, too.
