After moving adoptions to its new Papago Park campus earlier this year, the Arizona Humane Society is reopening its Sunnyslope campus to tackle overcrowding in its shelters.
The move comes as the organization is seeing some of the highest numbers of animals coming through its doors in its history.
“We're finding ourselves today with over 800 animals under our roof and another 650 animals in our foster care,” said CEO Dr. Steven Hansen. “These are some of the highest numbers we've ever experienced in our history. So this led us to look for another quality outlet to place pets in homes.”
According to Hansen, having full shelter services available again at the Sunnyslope location “will increase our volume of adoptions easily by one-third if we can get this location as popular as it had been in the past.”
But overcrowding remains a chronic issue, partially due to a backlog of spay-neuter surgeries.
“There was basically a moratorium that was put on non-essential surgeries. And spay and neuter, as an elective surgery, was considered non-essential,” said Hansen. “So there were many many surgeries that were delayed or not done. And we do believe that’s having a big impact.”
Hansen said factors like the Valley’s growing population, high vet bills and housing restrictions on certain dog breeds are all fueling the demand for shelter space. And in response, AHS is ramping up its efforts to catch up, increasing calls for adoptions and fostering, and promoting resources like behavior training to help keep pets and families together.
