NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) – The Charleston Animal Society has brought an out-of-state Veterinary Surgical Team to help spay and neuter the animals in their care.
“This time is the most severe crisis that I’ve seen with a number of animals that are backed up in the system across our state and particularly here in Charleston and Berkeley Counties.” President & CEO of Charleston Animal Society, Joe Elmore, said.
The animal society currently has over 1,300 animals in need of loving homes.
“Ever since COVID, there was a huge shutdown and a slowdown of doing surgeries and more people got pets. So, the backlog of doing spay and neuter kind of kept getting bigger and bigger.” Veterinarian Alycia Eisenstein said.
Under South Carolina State Law, all animals need to be spayed and neutered to qualify for adoption.
“It is something that we want to make sure we control the population. Health issues also rise up when we’ve got dogs that aren’t fixed.” Eisenstein said.
With these surgeries, these animals will now be one step closer to getting adopted through this large-scale initiative.
“You’re saving an animal in your community. So, it’s a community response that will only make this work. If we don’t have, you know, our community citizens coming out and adopting these animals, it all collapses.” Elmore said.
There are other options to help with this overcrowding crisis.
“Fostering animals is a critical band-aid for us. We will eventually need to place that animal permanently in a home, but fostering alleviates pressure on the sheltering system.” Elmore said.
The goal is to provide over 500 spays and neuters through Wednesday.
“We really need to push that message for people to understand how important it is for their long-term health to get them spayed and neutered.” Eisenstein said.
Through next Sunday, the animal society will also be waiving all adoption fees, making an extra effort to help these animals find homes. Those fees are being sponsored by Jeff Cook Real Estate.
For more information about Charleston Animal Society, click here.
