TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — The Hillsborough County Pet Resource Center is facing an unprecedented surge in cats, with roughly 360 felines currently on-site and the shelter reporting it has reached 700% capacity for cats.
Chelsea Waldek, the shelter’s division director, said the numbers are unlike anything staff have seen in decades of recordkeeping. “We have never seen those types of numbers since we’ve been recording data. Probably for the last 20 to 30 years,” Waldek said.
Veterinary experts warn that conditions can quickly become risky when so many animals are housed together. “This crowding really breeds the disease more, whether it’s upper respiratory or parvovirus or things that are also contagious like ringworm,” said Dr. Ashley Guerra, a veterinarian.
Now, the Pet Resource Center is urging people who are able to adopt or foster to step forward and help relieve the pressure, giving the cats a better chance at safe, healthy homes.
Among those who responded were local residents Cassidy Kirkland and Robert Morales, who came to the shelter after hearing about the urgent need.
“We just heard that today, and we wanted to act,” Kirkland said.
As Kirkland and Morales made their way past rows of full cages, they soon found the cats they felt were meant for them.
“We walked up to their little window, and they were up to it and playing with us, and they were just perfect,” Morales said.
To help with overcrowding, the Pet Resource Center is offering no-fee adoptions for people who want to take a cat or kitten home. They are also asking residents who see kittens in the wild to make sure the mother is not around before bringing them in.
“The longer they stay with their moms, the better chance that they have. Plus, they’ll get all the immunities that they need to be able to come into here and be healthy enough to stay for adoption,” Chelsea Waldek of the Pet Resource Center said.
There is no set date when the free adoptions will stop; the shelter is open from Monday to Saturday from 10 am to 5 pm. They will be closed on July 3 and July 4 to observe the holiday.
