The Blue Ridge Humane Society, like many in the country, currently has a desperate need for more adult cat and kitten fosters to help create increased space at the adoption center. The local nonprofit organization says the more fosters BRHS has, the more cats they are able to help.
BRHS provides all materials and training for fosters, who in return are asked to provide the temporary home and cuddles. The plea for more fosters comes as more animals are turning up at the county shelter.
“The Henderson County shelter is definitely having a high need for us to take animals for them right now,” said Foster Care Coordinator Katie Thomas. “They are full of animals and we try to alleviate space as much as possible, but we are also limited in space, especially when it comes to medical cases that need to be separated from the majority.
“For these reasons, we are in need of willing foster homes that have reliable transportation and would be able to separate their current resident pets from our foster animals."
Fostering can be as simple as a week or so long commitment, but BRHS also loves having some fosters willing to keep their animals as long as needed until adoption. Thomas said BRHS is always in need of foster homes.
“The foster program usually works as a cycle of gaining and losing foster homes,” Thomas said. “If we lose a foster home, it is typically because they adopt, move, or have a family matter to tend to. Also, over the summer, a lot of our regular foster caregivers go on vacation, so that also creates a higher need.”
For those worried about space, BRHS says sometimes even a bathroom is enough space for foster kittens. If they were at the adoption center, they would be in cages with more restrictions on their activity level. So even if they are isolated in one room, it is more space than what they would normally have.
“Our fosters play such an important role in what we do as an organization, from not only providing a safe space for animals but also helping reduce their stress levels by keeping them out of a shelter environment,” according to BRHS. "We are so grateful to have the fosters we do, but we could always use more to help us save more lives.”
To sign up to become a foster, go to www.shelterluv.com/form/other/BRHS/1133-foster-general-app. For more information, email the foster care coordinator at foster@blueridgehumane.org.
For those who wish to donate to BRHS, go to www.blueridgehumane.org/donate.
Brother Wolf Animal Rescue in Asheville has also put out an urgent plea for foster homes due to the current shelter overpopulation crisis.
According to Best Friends Animal Society, about 100,000 more dogs and cats in U.S. shelters are at risk of being euthanized compared to this time last year. With North Carolina already consistently ranked as the third worst state in the U.S. when it comes to the euthanasia rates of shelter animals, Brother Wolf reports that shelters in the region are in crisis, according to a news release from Brother Wolf.
“We’re receiving desperate pleas from partner shelters every single day,” said Leah Craig Fieser, Executive Director of Brother Wolf Animal Rescue. “Area shelters who thought they had moved past euthanizing for space are back in that heartbreaking reality. We’re doing everything we can to save lives but we need help. There are just so many animals in need right now.”
A recent study estimates that over 2.7 million pets in the U.S. were unable to be spayed/neutered due to COVID shutdowns.
“That means that more households are having accidental litters and bringing those puppies and kittens to their local shelter,” said Fieser. “Spay-neuter efforts have been instrumental in decreasing euthanasia and pet homelessness rates in this country since the 1970. A 2.7 million gap in surgeries will push progress back dramatically. To backslide this much is heartbreaking. To see the faces of the animals who are in dire situations due to this is soul crushing.”
Brother Wolf is currently helping a community member who has 10 two-month-old shepherd mix puppies living in a wire crate in their backyard. Brother Wolf is working to find foster placement for all the puppies and is scheduling the mother dog to come to them for spay surgery on their low-cost, mobile spay-neuter bus.
In addition to spay-neuter impacts, rising inflation is leading to families suffering economically with the average U.S. household now spending an additional $296 per month according to a Moody's Analytics analysis. Resulting financial challenges, and often housing changes, have left some families in a situation where they cannot continue to care for their pets.
Brother Wolf Animal Rescue acts as a support system to a network of over 25 partner shelters and takes in animals from them when they are full or have medically needy animals who they are unable to help. These partner shelters are typically small, rural, overburdened shelters without a foster network and with few resources, according to Brother Wolf.
“The more foster homes we have available, the more animals we can save,” said Sara Groce, Brother Wolf’s Volunteer Programs Manager.
Brother Wolf is seeking foster homes that can commit to taking puppies, dogs, kittens, or cats for a minimum of two weeks. Brother Wolf provides all of the supplies and education needed and is available to support foster families 24/7, according to the organization.
Signing up to be a foster can be done on Brother Wolf’s website at www.bwar.org/foster. If unable to foster, Brother Wolf encourages monetary and supply donations as other ways to support shelter animals right now. A Brother Wolf supporter is currently matching monetary donations, up to $15,000, to support incoming animals’ needs during this critical time. More information is available at www.bwar.org/shelters-in-crisis.