SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — It has been a busy start to the new year for the Sioux Falls Area Humane Society. The shelter has seen a recent influx of animals and is currently over capacity for cats.
The Sioux Falls Area Humane Society has 264 cats in its care with 19 of them being in foster care. The animal shelter only has 230 cat kennels on site.
“If you do the math on that, we’re over capacity in terms of actual kennel space,” Sioux Falls Area Humane Society humane welfare director Caley Harr said.
Harr is expecting even more cats soon.
“We have about 22 cats on the surrender schedule for just the next week as well to come in. It’s making it pretty difficult to continue to find space and make sure that these guys are moving in and out in an efficient manner,” Harr said.
So the Humane Society has had to adjust.
“What we typically see with that is finding places among the building that we can put extra kennels or stacking extra kennels even within a cat room like we normally have to make sure that we have enough space for anything incoming,” Harr said.
If the cats can’t find a home soon, the overcrowding could have a negative impact on them.
“It becomes stressful, and the more stress that goes on here, the higher likelihood that they are to get sick, which makes them even more unappealing to adopters and makes them stay longer with us,” Harr said.
Which is why the Humane Society is encouraging you to adopt.
“The best way for the public to help is just come up and adopt. If you are interested at all or you’ve been debating at all, we want you to come in, view our cats and get them adopted,” Harr said.
“The more space we have, the more time we have to kind of deal with those new animals coming in because there are more coming in every single day,” Sioux Falls Area Humane Society consumer operations director Ryan Kruse said.
Harr says she hopes to clear out 20 to 30 cats within the next two weeks. If you would like to adopt with the Humane Society, you can go in and fill out an application. Staff will ask for a photo ID and proof of address.
There is also a group of cats at the Cattitude Cafe in downtown Sioux Falls, which are also available for adoption.
