Staff and volunteers at the Grosse Pointe Animal Adoption Society are working hard to reconnect some lost pets with their proper owners.
However, the efforts have been challenging.
The shelter has been at capacity for weeks. Lost and found cats and dogs have been admitted into the facility, but finding the owners to claim the animals has proven challenging, according to Corinne Martin, Executive Director of GPAAS.
“Stray animals, lost and found cats and dogs—we are overwhelmed,” Martin said. “Like most shelters in the area.”
The Grosse Pointe Animal Adoption Society’s current capacity is 37 animals. Martin believes various factors may keep pet owners from claiming some animals.
The shelter primarily accepts animals found, stray, or surrendered in the Harper Woods and Grosse Pointe areas. However, sometimes animals come in from parts of Detroit’s east side and other surrounding neighborhoods.
“It’s not easy anymore,” Martin said. “I don’t know why, but truthfully, nine out of 10 of them that come in do not go back to an owner. We know they had an owner. We don’t know how to find their owner.”
The staff at Grosse Pointe Animal Adoption Society said they are proactive in their efforts. They often post photos across social media sites, appealing for help reconnecting people with pets.
Martin said, “We don’t know why we don’t get responses. We try everything that we can. We feel that maybe it’s come to a time where people, maybe, can’t take care of their pets anymore. They’re not responding. They’re choosing not to respond. There’s so many variables.”
The advocates at GPAAS said they don’t give up, and they won’t give up. Instead, they are focused on awareness, educating the community about measures like micro-chipping, and urging people to consider volunteering at the shelter when they can.
“That’s what makes a community shelter work is the community involvement,” Martin said.
For now, the focus remains on adoption and finding many of the pets a suitable forever home.
Grosse Pointe Animal Adoption Society will be hosting an open house on Saturday, April 6, from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. at 20542 Harper Avenue in Harper Woods.