P.E.I. Humane Society has too many animals

There's no more room at the P.E.I. Humane Society shelter, and officials are asking people to stop dropping off animals for the time being.

Erin Mullen, the society's adoption counsellor, said they can't handle any more animals right now.

"Probably for the next two weeks it would be best if you could keep the animals in your home until we can get everything under control here at the shelter," she said Tuesday.

Two kittens, named Posh and Becks, found abandoned in an apartment on Sept. 17, were among the surge of new arrivals at the shelter over the past two weeks that have have filled it to capacity.

Mullen said that over the past two weeks, more than 100 animals have arrived at the shelter twice as many as usual.

"We're trying very hard to find permanent homes for all the animals,"she said." Right now, the shelter is filled. All our foster families are filled with animals and all the staff, a lot of them have animals home in their care, too."

Many of the animals, like Posh and Becks, are babies, and overcrowding is taking a toll on them, she said. Some cats have come down with colds and the sickness is spreading.

Waylon Wiseman, a volunteer dog trainer, who trains dogs to make them more suitable for adoption, said crowding makes that work difficult.

"It kind of takes away from our ability to work with the dogs that really need the help and to be rehabilitated in terms of behaviour that might prevent them from going to a home at this point," Wiseman said.

Shelter staff isn't sure why September has seen such an increase in the number of animals being dropped off, and adoptions this month aren't keeping pace with the influx.

Mullen said people should spay or neuter their pets, and make sure they have proper identification.

Last year, about 40 per cent of the animals at the humane society had to be put down.