SEATTLE — With people back to work and traveling again, animal shelters in western Washington are putting out a call for help. Shelters and rescues are looking for families to foster dogs to avoid having to turn away transports of dogs from other states.
"Probably about 40% of our dogs are from California, and we actually had to say no to a transport for the first time in a really long time because we didn't have any fosters to take any of the dogs," said Brianne Hall, an adoption coordinator for Dog Gone Seattle, a foster-based rescue.
Hill said the shelter at Dog Gone Seattle and the backup kennel are both full, meaning the only option to take in new animals is to find more foster families.
"We need fosters to come forward," said Hill. "If you have a space in your home and you have the means to do it, please. It's usually around two to three weeks per dog."
At an adoption event on Sunday at Hot Cakes in Ballard, foster families with Dog Gone Seattle brought their foster dogs with hopes of getting them adopted.
Hill said Dog Gone Seattle has roughly 300 foster families, but only about 60 are currently available to take foster pets.
Dog Gone Seattle is a shelter partner of the NW Canine Coalition, which put out a request for foster families on Instagram saying shelters and rescues are "overflowing."
"Unless we can open up our heart and open up our homes to take in a dog these shelters will have no other choice than to euthanize dogs because they don't have the space to house them," said NW Canine Coalition President Kathleen Hunter on Instagram.