One morning in July, Linda Ruzich picks up a female German shepherd at the Kansas Humane Society. The dog’s final destination is a Topeka-area rescue.
Ruzich is in charge of transporting the shepherd on the first leg of her trip, from Wichita to Emporia. Transporters are called to action when rescues and shelters need to offload animals, like this one.
Over 15 years of transporting, Ruzich said around 3,500 animals — from dogs and cats to ducks and pigs — have spent time in the back of her car.
“I would hope at some point in time, I wouldn’t be transporting because there was no need for it,” Ruzich said. “But it just seems like I think that, and then it gets crazier.”
Animal welfare advocates say rising costs for veterinary care and pet food and supplies, a phenomenon known as “petflation,” are forcing many owners to give up their pets.
“They have to make that call of, ‘Am I getting groceries this month or is my cat getting its rabies vaccine, because that’s going to cost me as much as what my groceries is going to cost?’” said Hannah Spelts, founder of Derby-based rescue Save the Kitties.
This has led to shelters and rescues constantly operating at capacity. Christy Fischer, executive director of Wichita Animal Action League, said the organizations are “warehousing animals” because there is “just nowhere for them to go.”
A backlog of spay and neuter surgeries
Many animal welfare leaders attribute the overpopulation of animals to a decrease in spay and neuter surgeries.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, more people adopted pets. But, fewer people were able to go to the vet due to lockdown restrictions, so fewer animals were spayed and neutered.
Jordan Bani-Younes, director of communications and marketing for the Kansas Humane Society, said what came next was a “domino effect.”
“What we saw with that afterwards was kind of a ripple effect, where you have a ton of animals who are not getting spayed (or) neutered who have continued to have puppies, and those puppies have had puppies, and those kittens have had kittens,” he said.
Since then, the cost of spay and neuter surgeries has surged, and the country is experiencing a veterinarian shortage.
Dr. Kylie Bruce of Bruce Veterinary Services said both factors are contributing to a lower number of surgeries being done.
Fixing animals is the best solution to curb overpopulation, she added, but spay and neuter surgeries are not cheap.
Bruce said costs can range from $300 to over $1,000 to fix a dog. She added that many low-cost pet care options often have residency or income requirements to qualify for care.
Her mobile clinic aims to eliminate those barriers by providing low-priced services around south-central Kansas without restrictions, she said. Her spay and neuter surgeries are about half the cost of many others.
“My goal is that we’re trying to head the problem off before it’s reaching the shelters,” Bruce said. “We’re trying to educate, get those animals vaccinated and spayed and neutered, so hopefully they are not ending up in a shelter situation.”
Inflation impacts other resources
As costs rise, it’s challenging for low-cost resources to stay open. Eunice Mollett is based in rural Osawatomie, about an hour southwest of Kansas City. She said many clinics in the area have closed in recent years.
Mollett runs rescue Four Kids for Kritters. She said she now takes on the cost of spay and neuter surgeries for families who can’t afford them.
“I would rather pay to get somebody’s female cat fixed for them versus a few months down the road being asked to take in four to six, seven, eight kittens,” Mollett said.
At the Humane Society, Bani-Younes said standard adoption fees have gone from $200 to $225 to account for the rising costs of spay and neuter surgeries, vaccinations, medications and basic care.
Gas prices also hit a three-year high in May. Bruce said the bill to fill up her truck and gas generators has increased by around $500. It has made her consider not taking on any new locations, she said.
Ruzich, who transported the German shepherd to Emporia, said she drives around 2,000 miles each month to transport animals. In both March and April, her mileage doubled.
She said she isn’t as impacted by rising prices because transports are what she wants to spend her money on.
But not all transporters are able to take on the cost increase, according to Nika Orebaugh, the supervisor for Sedgwick County Animal Control.
“We are desperate — desperate for fosters, desperate for anyone willing to transport — because the price of gas, you might as well open a vein, so some of our transporters that were really tried-and-true transporters, who are retired and on fixed incomes, simply can no longer afford to transport because they can’t afford the increasing price in gas,” Orebaugh said.
Animal welfare advocates feel mental strain
Bani-Younes began working at the Humane Society in 2022. He said before the pandemic, overpopulation was a concern, but post-pandemic, it’s a whole new landscape.
“Right now, it just feels like we’re drowning, and I’ve known nothing but that,” he said.
Nearly every day, shelters and rescues get phone calls from people wanting to give up their pets.
“The vast majority of people that we are talking to are absolutely desperate to find places for their pets, sometimes even to the point of threatening to shoot their pets if we don’t take them,” said Fischer, with Wichita Animal Action League. “Because they feel like they’ve exhausted all of the resources, they are just at their wits end, and every shelter and rescue is telling them that they’re full, which they are.
“It sucks a bit of your soul out every time you hear that,” she said. “But obviously it’s not ethical, it’s not responsible, it’s not logical for us to take in more than what our resources can support.”
Orebaugh said animal control often gets calls from people experiencing job loss or eviction, or those ending relationships or fleeing domestic violence, who don’t have anywhere for their pet to go.
She said the work takes a toll on even the most seasoned people in animal welfare.
“I have a lovely therapist,” Orebaugh said, getting choked up. “I’ve been doing this for over 20 years. I mean, there is a certain amount of compartmentalization that you do.”
Bani-Younes said Humane Society employees have quit because of the mental toll the work takes on them.
Some advocates said they stay in the field because of their love for animals and the impact they have on people.
Orebaugh pointed to a kitten who was dropped off at her office. She took him to the vet, and he was set to go to the shelter that afternoon.
“He is a super sweetheart, and he’s going to get a chance to be somebody’s childhood, he’s going to get a chance to be somebody’s buddy, and that’s a big part,” she said. “It’s a big part of mental health, it’s a big part of safety, and it’s a big part of connecting and compassion.”
