Dozens of dogs and cats at a New Haven animal shelter need to find homes or they will be put down.
“It’s very critical. We're almost at maximum capacity with the animals,” David Henon, of the New Haven Animal Shelter, said.
Overpopulation at shelters is at crisis levels in urban areas, where people who have lost their jobs and, in some cases their homes, have abandoned animals.
This is happening in New Haven, where animal adoptions have declined and the shelter is housing 80 animals.
Animal control has picked up dozens of stray dogs and others roaming the streets of New Haven. There are also animals left at the shelter’s doorstep.
"Right now, I’m turning everyone away. I can’t take any owner-surrenders because of the increase in abandonments,” Stephani Johnson, municipal animal control officer for the City of New Haven, said.
Any animal that is not claimed by its owner or is left at the shelter for seven days can be put down.
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Officials from New Haven’s shelter said the majority of the animals in the shelter are healthy and ready to be adopted.
It costs $155 to adopt a pet that will go home spayed or neutered.
The shelter asks people to visit the shelter at 81 Fournier St. and look at the animals available.
