The Clatsop County Animal Shelter is at capacity after dogs and cats seized in an animal neglect case arrived last week.
While the shelter still must respond to reports of animals at large and continues to work to connect stray animals with owners, it is not able to take pets being voluntarily surrendered by their owners — even as the shelter continues to field multiple such calls a day.
“We’re at an all stop right now,” said Justin Dersham, the Clatsop County animal control supervisor.
Typically there are 40 to 45 animals at the shelter and in foster care situations in the community, said Lily Tollefsen, executive director of Clatsop Animal Assistance, a nonprofit that works with the shelter to coordinate and fund care for animals brought to the shelter and awaiting adoption.
Now that number has more than doubled and Dersham says the shelter is running well over capacity. In some cases, dogs that are related to each other or get along well with each other are doubled up in a single kennel. Nine kennels the shelter usually reserves to strays are filled up by resident animals.
After a recent Clatsop Animal Assistance board meeting, several founding members told Tollefsen they could remember three cases of this magnitude in the last 25 years.
“So it’s significant,” Tollefsen said. “And it’s essentially the influx of intake in a very short amount of time with very little notice that’s kind of what just makes it so urgent.”
Last week, the nonprofit put out a community call asking for donations to help with the purchase of additional food and veterinary care, and for new volunteers and foster families. Tollefson said they have also reached out to other shelters to see if they are able to take on animals from Clatsop County.
Dersham said the quickest way to free up space in the shelter now is through volunteer fosters and adoptions. The animals recently seized, however, are not up for adoption while the criminal case involving them is pending.
The animals’ owner, 35-year-old Sourav Chatterjee of Wahkiakum County, Wash., faces 17 counts of animal cruelty in the second degree. The investigation began when Chatterjee was living in Clatsop County. As of Sunday, he was no longer in custody. A court appearance is scheduled for this week.
The status of the case is one thing that makes the influx of pets extra complicated. They cannot be put up for adoption until there is a resolution. That means the Clatsop County shelter could be housing them for a while.
Dersham said that before being seized, the animals were being kept in conditions that were not acceptable under definitions of minimum care as described under the law. But, he added, if the case resolves in such a way that the animals are able to be put up for adoption, the dogs especially will be very desirable. Tollefsen described the dogs as very friendly and happy to receive attention from people.
“I’m not looking at animals I’m worried we’re going to get stuck with for a while,” Dersham added.
But for now, he is.
For people who may need to re-home or surrender animals, Maryann Sinkler, board president for Clatsop Animal Assistance, still encourages reaching out to the nonprofit.
“We can brainstorm about what’s going on, what’s the problem and what are some potential solution,” she said.