If you’re thinking about adopting a pet, there’s never been a better time than now to bring the new friend home .

Across the country, many animal rescue organizations are dealing with overcrowding due to rising inflation and the financial challenges many people are currently facing.

This is pretty different from the particular height of the pandemic, when many people, feeling isolated, adopted a “pandemic pet. ” According to the American Society for the Prevention associated with Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), 23 million households (that’s almost 1 in 5 families) adopted a dog or cat during this period.

While it’s tough to find many positive things to say about living through the particular COVID-19 outbreak , the amount of pets who found new homes was a small bright spot.

These days, however, animal shelters are finding themselves with the new problem: Overcrowded conditions and staffing shortages overwhelm many organizations who often rely on donations and volunteers in order to exist in the first place.

“People went out during COVID and used animals, plus that was fantastic, ” Tanya Semchenko, president of the Oswego County SPCA, told Oswego Region News . “That has been great. However , there were people who followed animals that really didn’t have an understanding of the commitment that goes into an animal, including the vet care as well as the time commitment. ”

Shelters are usually hopeful that will by lowering adoption fees this summer (and in some cases, waiving them altogether ), they can help find brand new homes for the animals in their care.

Examples include New York City, where the particular Animal Care Center (ACC) has currently reduced adoption fees with regard to cats over 7 months old to $20. The Pet Resource Center within Tampa, Florida, has waived adoption charges through August.

Meanwhile, the Bissell Pet Foundation is working with shelters across the country in order to offer free adoptions until the end associated with July, and for the month of Aug, all ownership fees are being waived by Columbia Animal Services , in Columbia, South Carolina.

And there’s good news to be found. At a recent free re-homing event in Minneapolis, all animals had been placed in loving homes — a trend we hope continues across the nation.

To help relieve some of the burden on animal shelters, staff are also encouraging people to consider fostering a dog .

In Chicago, overpopulation is reaching “catastrophic levels, ” according to the particular Anti-Cruelty Community , a nonprofit shelter, so save staff need all the assist they could get.

“The biggest need right now will be adoption, but fostering — or taking an animal home regarding a short period associated with time … is also beneficial, ” Darlene Duggan, Anti-Cruelty’s Chief Operating Officer (COO) informed Block Club Chicago .

If you have been considering pet usage, or cultivating a creature , try contacting your local pet shelter or even rescue organization to see if they are decreasing or waiving fees intended for adoption.

Your wallet will thank you, and while that’s definitely a good added bonus, it’s nothing compared in order to the amount of love you’ll receive from your new buddy.