Photo credit: Nina Norwood

Cats Yuki and Tico sleep side-by-side in their crate. With the help of their adoption parter Stray No More, the pair arrived in the care of a Petsmart shelter and have been with the program for a year now. “Some of my friends call them inventory. They have to ‘move their inventory.’ It absolutely makes me insane because they’re not inventory,” CEO and Founder or Dawg Sqaud Animal Rescue Carole Pearson said. “They’re living beings.”

What happens when shelters rescue more animals than get adopted? What happens when all the kennels are already full but there are still more animals needing to be housed? The answer is a hard choice, one that shelters and rescues have been making for a long time: euthanasia.

According to ASPCA Animal Shelter Count, 290,000 animals were euthanized in just the first half of 2025. Homeless Outreach Program Integrated Care System Animal Care Coordinator Waylon Jaime said shelters all over LA County are continuously strained to the limit with the amount of animals coming in and needing new homes. He said people leave their animals at shelters for many reasons, and many of those pets are being euthanized.

“Usually shelters don’t say too much, but I do know that the euthanasia list grows every day,” Jaime said.

Cats and dogs are being euthanized every day because there is not enough room for each pet. A part of the explanation for the lack of shelter space lies in the COVID-19 pandemic.

During the pandemic, another epidemic started: loneliness. People were stuck indoors all day without much contact with others and started to seek companionship in other forms. According to ASPCA Animal Shelter Count, nearly one in five American households adopted an animal during the beginning of COVID-19.

Around mid-2022, according to the Center For Disease Control and Prevention, COVID started to taper off. Many people lost their jobs, and many veterinarian businesses had shut down too, causing animal care prices to skyrocket. Unable to afford their pets, many people gave them away, creating a 4% increase in the amount of animals entering shelters instead of leaving, according to ASPCA Animal Shelter Count.

Carole Pearson, president and founder of the nonprofit rescue Dawg Squad, confirmed this phenomenon. She said many people cannot afford basic medical care, like vaccine shots, in addition to procedures like spaying and neutering, which is very important in helping to keep stray animal populations down.

“People just don’t. They don’t go,” Pearson said, “so it’s a vicious cycle.”

Another aspect contributing to overpopulation is the lack of funding and resources for shelters, especially private rescues. Animal refuges — both public and not-for-profit programs — rely on money to care for their animals. They use money to pay for medical bills, toys, food and new facilities.

While most public shelters receive limited funding from the government, nonprofit organizations rely solely on donations and grants, said Lori Weise, Downtown Dog Rescue‘s founder. According to a poll by the ASPCA, there are currently 9,514 private animal rescues in America, compared to the 4,915 animal shelters that are government-run.

“Our biggest donation we really need is money because we pay for our veterinarian. We pay her salary. We have a social worker that works for us, and we provide health insurance for our employees and everything,” Weise said. “We have liability insurance, and, just to run our kennel, we have electricity and a water bill — so all of that. So we are constantly trying to bring in donations.”

Seventh grader Chloe Carter sees the effects of underfunding at the private rescue where she volunteers, Wagmore. She said the organization is saving up for plans to buy a new, bigger facility for their dogs, but until then, Wagmore has had to deal with housing the influx of animals in other ways. 

“When I look through the window, all the dogs are in one area,” Carter said. “And they look like they’re all cramped.”

Many other rescues like Wagmore have had to find ways to cope due to the lack of space and resources. Some examples include volunteers housing animals at their own homes, making spaces in the bathrooms or lobbies, or doubling dogs per kennel.

When asked about what the community could do to help, shelter staff and volunteers alike offered ideas. Aside from money, items that topped the list were donations, leashes, collars, beds, unused toys and food. Another big one was for volunteers and fosters.

Wags & Walks volunteer Sophia Jiwan said fostering is a way to show dogs love and help them open up.

“I think definitely one of the biggest things people can do to help this is foster a dog — even if it’s for a day — it just makes all the difference,” Jiwan said. “Because when people foster instead of adopting or having a breeder, it allows other dogs to make it out safely and have a home.”

More solutions included not falling for the “breed of the month,” Pearson said, or buying whatever dog is most popular at the moment, especially from breeders. “Rescue, don’t buy” was the popular phrase amoung the volunteers and animal welfare professionals. 

Not buying a dog without proper research beforehand, like knowing what medical conditions that might need to be treated or where and how to spay and neuter your pet, was really important to the shelter staff.

“You don’t need a pretty dog,” Pearson said. “You need one that suits your needs.”

While the situation in shelters can be tough, staff and volunteers try to always carry hope and kindness. Jaime says this attitude of compassion should always lead in spaces of animal welfare because one can never really know what the pet has been through. 

“In anybody you encounter, as far as people on the street with their pets, people needing care for their pets, just always try to lead with kindness and compassion,” Jaime said. “Because you never know what them or their pet have gone through to be where they are.”

Even through this crisis, what ultimately drives shelter staff and volunteers is their love for their animals. They want the animals that were once neglected to have a chance at a happier life. 

Pearson phrased her motivation as a question: “I mean, would you live in a cage for the rest of your life?”