PETERSBURG, Va. — When Petersburg Animal Care and Control hit full capacity at the Johnson Road facility, staff knew something needed to be done to help the animals.
So, over this past weekend, the shelter held an open house for people interested in adopting a dog.
Not a single person showed up,
"Pretty disappointing that nobody actually showed up for it," Petersburg Animal Control Supervisor Jenny Smith said. "We need adopters. We need rescuers."
While no dogs were adopted during the open house, six new stray dogs were dropped off.
Volunteers like Karen Pond Tomlinson are critical when it comes to keeping the shelter up and running.
"I have taken some [dogs] home to foster," Tomlinson said about her role in helping to ease overcrowding at the shelter. "I’ve probably taken 10 to 12 [dogs] home."
She also performs odd jobs around the shelter.
"Today I’m here to paint a fence, we try to do a little of everything," she said. "Just cleaning and feeding is enormous when you have so many pets coming in."
To accommodate the more than 30 dogs at the shelter, Petersburg Animal Control will sometimes double up on the number of animals in each of its 24 dog runs.
The shelter is proud of its accomplishments as a no-kill shelter and hopes the community will step up in its time of need.
"We got a no-kill shelter award and we got it because we got a 90 percent live release rate for year 2022 and we’re still holding that for 2023 so far," Smith said.
If you are interested in volunteering at the shelter, fostering a dog, or adopting one, reach out to Animal Care and Control on Johnson Road at 804-732-3654.
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