CONWAY — The Horry County Animal Care Center’s barn is filled with rows of large metal dog kennels.
Every kennel is full, and some hold multiple dogs.
As center staff walk through the barn, the dogs jump and paw at the metal locks separating them from the play field outside. Their barking echoes throughout the space.
The dogs are here because all of the regular kennels are full. There were over 300 animals at the shelter as of Nov. 20. All adoptions at the Animal Care Center are free and all of the pets are up to date on their vaccines. They’ve also been spayed or neutered and microchipped.
Despite perks that make for an easy adoption, the center struggles to get enough pets into homes and keep the shelter under its capacity, county spokeswoman Adrianna Seals Nixon said.
With so many pets and a limited staff, it’s difficult to get enrichment time for the animals, Nixon said.
Center staff typically arrive around 7 a.m. When the lights come on, the dogs know someone is there. It takes hours for staff to clean all of the kennels, put out food and administer medication.
After all of the necessities are taken care of, staff use what little time is left between doing community walk-throughs for potential adoptions to try to provide enrichment time, such as taking play groups outside.
Many days the dogs in the regular kennels don’t get to play outside at all, said Lt. Crystal Buckingham, the shelter director. The dogs in the barn often only get to go in the field while their kennels are being cleaned.
The center is located in the western part of the county at 1923 Industrial Park Road just outside Conway. Being so far from the county’s population centers could be one reason the center struggles to get pets adopted, Buckingham said, adding that county officials hope to eventually establish a second location in a more urban area closer to the coast.
A new kennel is being built along with a new public safety building behind the center, but that project could take years, Nixon said.
For now, officials said the shelter is doing the best it can while being consistently over capacity.
