Charlotte-Mecklenburg Animal Care & Control Halts Owner Surrender

Unfortunate news item from the local television news station:

Because of overcrowding, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Animal Care & Control is halting owner surrenders.

The shelter has been putting out desperate calls for adopters and fosters as kennels have continued to fill up more and more over the last year.

“On a day that we are happy to have 20 dog adoptions/fosters going out the door, at the same time we have 15 strays/owner surrenders coming in and sadly we see no light at the end of this very long tunnel,” said Melissa Knicely, Communications and Outreach Manager at AC&C in a press release.

At the time of the press release’s writing, the shelter had a total of 208 dogs at the shelter and 282 in their care total (including fosters and staycations).

“We simply do not have room for them,” said Dr. Fisher, Director of AC&C in the same release. “ACC officers are doing everything they can to get lost pets’ home in the community before bringing them into the shelter, but between lost dogs that we are unable to find an owner, long-term case dogs, and dogs that pose a public safety risk to our community, our kennels are at capacity.”

Those who have already booked an appointment to surrender their dog will be called to cancel the appointment and provided with other resources.

The shelter is running an adoption special for all animals through December 31: Adoptions are free with a monetary donation to any of the shelter’s programs.

To help combat overcrowding, the community is encouraged to spay and neuter their pets, make sure they’re microchipped and the registration is up-to-date, they always have an I.D. tag (provided free by AC&C, if you need one), and of course, foster or adopt a dog.

Want to learn how you can foster or adopt? Visit animals.cmpd.org or visit the shelter at 8315 Byrum Drive, Charlotte.

Cedar's Take: Let's get this out of the way - This is a cultural problem. A total lack of accountability and reliance on government help (AKA Free Stuff) has created this problem. 

Sidebar: Pit Bulls and their countless variations can be sweet lovable goof balls. Sadly much of their aggressive behavior is trained. But the breed is also "hard wired" just a much as Labrador Retrievers thanks to careful breeding.  

Yet the fact is 98 of 100 dogs up for adoption in Charlotte's AC&C operation are Pit Bulls and Pit Bull Mix. 

And the reason is a segment of our population has this need to own a "bad dog" 

And neutering or spaying them is out of the question. 

Same with proper veterinary care and licenses and general ownership.

I can't imagine how someone "bags up" a litter of pups and drops them off at the front gate at CMPD's Animal Care and Control without a thought or care. 

Owner surrenders are just a nice way of saying ghetto dog owners who should have never owned a dog in the first place.

The push back is always the same: That's misinformation that's urban myth, but the numbers don't lie.

AC & C says they don't track information regarding owner surrenders. But CP hears that there are some people who are serial surrenderers. 

And so it goes that tax payers are let to foot the bill. Vet care spay/neuter food housing. Then lets point out that AC & C operates from basically the same size location and facility they have for years. Their budget has not kept pace with Charlotte.  

Yes there's talk of expansion but it is small compared to the need which is overwhelming.

What's needed is a culture change. If ghetto is you style fine but it should cost you and not the taxpayers. CP