Animal intake is up 8% nationally. At the Kauaʻi Humane Society there have been similar trends, Executive Director Nicole Schafer Crane said. And that may grow.
"It's expected that in the second half of the year, that is going to climb even higher," Schafer Crane said Tuesday. "This year may be the highest year of intakes that we're going to see and the outcomes have just decreased significantly."
It's a trend seen across the nation, Schafer Crane reported, which has affected their ability to ship animals to the continent as often as before.
The shelter is able to accommodate about 150 animals, but currently has more than 400.
KHS received its no-kill designation at the end of 2019.
To keep its no-kill status, the humane society needs to maintain a 90% positive outcome rate over a calendar year. The other 10% can be for medical or behavioral euthanasia.
"Because we're open admission, we'll take your animal, your stray animals, no matter their breed size, age, disease, anything," she said. "You know, that's just something we don't have a lot of control over."
Since they don’t have that control, if animals are diseased or in pain, the humane society may opt to euthanize them for their own quality of life. Moving away from a no-kill status means KHS may have to euthanize healthy animals.
"If things continue on the trend that we've seen for the last two, three months, that will very much be what happens is we will no longer be able to refer to ourselves as a no-kill shelter," said Schafer Crane.
Among ways the community can get involved include spaying or neutering pets, adopting, fostering and financially supporting KHS, which could mean helping to pay for off-island adoptions.
