The Animal Welfare League is maxed out. The humane shelter, which serves the city of Warsaw and Kosciusko County, has seen its cat population skyrocket to unprecedented levels in recent weeks partly because of a series of hoarding cases. As a result, the shelter has temporarily stopped accepting new animals – cats and dogs – and is offering deep discounts on cat adoptions. The shelter was designed to accommodate about 70 cats and 100 dogs, but three cases of hoarding and the spring breeding season have left the facility this week with upward of 230 cats and about 100 dogs. While the dog population is close to reaching its limit at the shelter, officials have never tried to handle more than 200 felines. “This is the worst I’ve ever seen it,” said Darla McCammon, executive director for AWL who has worked there for eight years. The facility is chock full of animals in cages in almost every conceivable space in the building. Small carriers normally used for transportation are now serving as temporary homes for dozens of cats. In some cases, cats are paired up together in carriers, many of which are stacked on top of each other in an old garage where dogs are also being held, an arrangement that shelters normally avoid because of the added stress dogs put on cats. The circumstances have become overwhelming for paid staff and volunteers who are working longer hours just to keep up with the daily cleaning demands, McCammon said. “They’re exhausted and I can see it in some of their faces. They’re really putting themselves physically at risk because they’re working so many hours,” she said. “I gotta think of the people here as well as the animals – it’s not a good situation for any of them right now.” The ban on new intakes will continue until conditions improve, and that will depend greatly on adoptions. Meanwhile, staffers are looking at all options to reduce the population. Right now, adults cats with all of their necessary shots are available for $45 and a second adult cat will cost only $25. The regular fee is $70. They’re reaching out to other animal groups to help reduce the overcrowding and “calling in favors” wherever possible, she said. Officials recently worked with Catsnip, a non-profit group in Goshen that works to humanely reduce and stabilize the free-roaming cat population. Catsnip accepted about 20 cats from AWL, many of which were then spayed and neutered and taken to a horse farm where the cats were gladly welcomed, she said. McCammon said the hoarding cases contributed heavily to the crisis. Thirty seven cats ended up at the shelter following a hoarding investigation in Milford. Two other hoarding cases brought in dozens more. McCammon said she’s been aware of five or six hoarding cases during her eight years at the shelter and is at a loss to explain the recent increase. She said she’s resisting suggestions that the shelter start giving pets away for free because the shelter relies heavily on adoption fees to run the shelter’s operations. The cat crisis also underscores the agency’s on-going need for financial support for operations and expansion plans. AWL will soon be making appeals to Kosciusko County Council on July 14 and Warsaw City Council on Aug. 1 for more financial support. Annual support from the city and county represent about 18 percent of the facility’s operating budget, she said. At the same time, AWL is in the middle of a fundraising effort for its future nearby facility just south of U.S. 30 and east of Warsaw. The group has purchased land and raised about $800,000, but still needs $1 million more. McCammon said the shelter would have been much better equipped to handle the cat crisis if it had been in its future facility. “We need to find some soft-hearted people out there that love animals that want to get the shelter built. There’s money in this community to do this, it’s just finding the people and getting them to open up their pocketbooks.” Despite the huge number of animals being housed in a relatively small building, the odor wasn’t that bad during a recent visit and was better than what visitors can expect at other shelters. “We’ve worked hard. We’re really diligent about keeping it clean and healthy. My No. 1 goal is having a healthy shelter. They’ve really pitched in during this crisis,” she said. Aside from seeing more cats get adopted, McCammon said she’d also like to see more people start fostering cats that are waiting to be adopted. To learn more about AWL, call 574-267-3008 or go online at www.awlwarsaw.com.
