‘Kitten season’ overloads local animal shelters
JACKSON, Tenn. — Spring is what animal welfare advocates call “kitten season,” and now a local animal shelter is overloaded.
In the past three weeks alone, the Jackson Animal Care Center has taken in over 90 cats. That’s a third of their overall intake for the year.
“This time of year, we just expect it. It’s like, ‘Oh. Again? Okay,'” said Jackson Animal Care Center Director Whitney Owen.
Owen says kitten season is between March and September, every year.
“All these kittens are being born, and people are finding them and they don’t want them, or their cat got ‘oopsy-daisy’ pregnant,” Owen said.
But the shelter only has enough room for about 100 cats and dogs, and there’s only four other employees who already have their hands tied.
“Even if they were willing to sacrifice every hour of sleep they have, there is no physical way for them to do it. So we have to lean heavily on fosters,” Owen said.
Owen says they’re looking for fosters for this influx of cats. You can do that by calling the shelter or going to one of their social media pages.
But, if you’re not able to foster, Owen says you need to get your animals fixed.
“If you have a cat, get it fixed. If you have a personal dog, get it fixed,” Owen said.
“That’s the only way to fix the problem. You can not rescue your way out of the hole we are in. There are not enough cages that I can build. I can fill them up, and there will still be animals that need somewhere to go because there’s just too many in our area right now,” Owen said.
Owen says currently, all of the dog kennels at the shelter are full as well and there are more in quarantine.
