Dear friends – it’s been an especially difficult year for all of us. As we do our best to get back to some semblance of normalcy what I’m seeing in shelters across rural NC is truly heartbreaking. These small rural shelters, most of which struggle with resources to help animals in need during normal times, are literally overrun with dogs and cats being surrendered or picked up by animal control. I’m seeing more animals than ever that need help, and the grim truth is that more dogs and cats are being euthanized than any of us would ever want. I know this is very hard to think about and the local shelter and animal control resources are doing all they can to help, but they are fighting an uphill battle given the overpopulation issues we are experiencing, and the lack of resources we have all struggled with due to the pandemic.

We are just starting to be able to do some events that we hope will help in the future, but the truth is that our financial resources are not meeting the demand. Due to the pandemic, and not being able to fundraise as we normally would, has meant that we have been hit harder with fewer donations. This, combined with having more dogs than ever needing our help, means that we must make really tough decisions every single week about dogs we can and can’t take in.