![]() Thankfully that hasn’t happened.” ACS, too, has seen an uptick of interest in fostering and adoptions, and is continuing to operate an emergency pet care program, providing free shelter to pets for up to 30 days if their owners are displaced from their homes or hospitalized. “We were expecting to get a pretty intense wave of animals coming into the system during the pandemic. ACS chief program officer Lydia Krupinski says it’s been a relief to see available animals dwindle. ![]() While adoption fees are a source of revenue for these organizations, most of the operating funds come from charitable contributions. Like PAWS, the Anti-Cruelty Society has had to cancel its major annual fundraising event and move its outreach to donors online. Poukatch says the organization is concerned about its long-term financial stability. Like its smaller counterparts, however, PAWS has seen a decline in financial donations, with fundraising down by 40 percent in March. ![]() ![]() In response to the pandemic, and in anticipation of some people needing to relinquish their pets because of illness, PAWS launched a crisis foster care service. “Last I heard we had 6,000 people who were interested in becoming foster parents.” Poukatch notes that PAWS has been able to even place pets with complex health needs who generally appeal less to adopters. “We were able to place hundreds of animals in foster homes prior to the shelter-in-place order,” says Julia Poukatch, a spokeswoman for PAWS Chicago, which has also created a virtual adoption process and only allows scheduled in-person meetings with animals now. Larger shelters are experiencing a similar influx of interest in fostering pets temporarily as well as permanent adoptions. “Of the 63 dogs we’ve placed in the last three weeks only two were not good fits.” No cats have been returned to the shelter since the lockdown started. “We’re pretty confident that our people are solidly making this decision now,” she says. She says many of the interested adopters say they’d been considering getting a pet for a while but couldn’t find a good time to engage with the process until now. Smith says her organization is taking “painstaking care” in matching animals with adopters to reduce the likelihood of returns. Applications to foster and adopt dogs like Rusty, who provide a state-approved reason to be outside, have been particularly high. The UnGala is back! Clic k here for the ticket link for this year's celebration at Epiphany Center for the Arts on Oct. Cat adoptions are by appointment with the shelter, so they can arrange for people to come one at a time to comply with social distancing protocols. All the dogs were placed in new homes within a day. At the end of the week they finalize the adoption.” On Wednesday, Smith expected 30 dogs and eight cats to arrive from Alabama. And then Wednesday and and Thursday people pick up the animals and start a weeklong foster-to-adopt. And then on Sunday we review applications. “For every 20 dogs we post we’ll get about 115 applications. “We post on our Facebook page on Saturday,” Smith explains. Most of the shelter’s animals are rescues from Alabama that are brought to Chicago once a week. Since the shelter-in-place order, Smith has had to lay off three part-time staffers in her 30-worker organization and restructure operations to handle the unprecedented volume of applications to adopt cats and dogs. “The demand for animals is higher than it’s ever been because people are home now and they have the time and they’re lonely.” “Adoptions are crazy through the roof and donations have stopped, they’ve basically come to a screeching halt,” says Abby Smith, director of the Edgewater-based Felines and Canines. However, animal rescues have also seen a decline in the charitable donations that keep their operations afloat. The number of available pets has dwindled to historic lows even as animal shelters (deemed by the state to be an essential service) have continued to take in new animals. Pritzker issued his stay-at-home order and in the weeks since, local animal shelters have been inundated with demand to foster and adopt dogs, cats, rabbits, lizards, roosters, and every other available critter. Best of Chicago 2022: Sports & RecreationĪs the novel coronavirus pandemic rages on, homeless people may be facing bleak prospects in Chicago, but not homeless pets.
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