Copper Country Humane Society halts dog surrenders as they reach max kennel capacity

HOUGHTON, Mich. (WLUC) - For the foreseeable future, the Copper Country Humane Society (CCHS) will no longer be able to take in dogs.

“We didn’t really decide to; we had no space to,” said CCHS Shelter Manager Becki Clouthier. “We have one empty kennel, and that’s for stray dogs that come in. In fact, this morning, it became to two stray dogs in one kennel. Thankfully, they were from the same household. We have 25 in-house right now.”

Clouthier says during the pandemic, more people adopted pets, keeping the occupancy down.

Post-pandemic, however, people have surrendered their pets for a variety of reasons.

“A lot of people can’t take care of them,” continued Clouthier. “Funds are low, people lost jobs, housing problems, a lot of people got evicted or they lost their homes, a lot of rentals don’t allow pets, and people have had to move.”

For now, the shelter is encouraging home-to-home adoptions.

“If someone needs to surrender a dog, it would be best for them to contact us to try and do a home-to-home adoption,” added Clouthier. “Where we help them advertise the animal, and then they can hopefully find them a home that way while still in their household.”

The shelter hopes with summer’s arrival, more people will consider adoption.

People can also drop by the shelter to take dogs on walks, sponsor adoptions and check out the shelter’s Facebook page.

“We post our dogs quite frequently on our Facebook and Instagram,” said CCHS Shelter Assistant Manager Rebecca Brink. “So, if people share that, or they see, like, ‘Oh man, this person I know might be a really good fit for that dog’, so send that picture along to that person, and maybe that will result in an adoption.”

To learn more about the shelter and how to adopt, you can check out the shelter’s website by clicking here.

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