COVID-19 may have interfered with many things since last March, but one thing is for sure: dogs and cats in Leon County are still finding new homes and “furever” families.
The Leon County Humane Society is a private rescue organization that finds animals through a variety of sources such as shelters, owner surrenders and even the occasional stray call-ins. Lisa Glunt, LCHS’ executive director, says they’ve been consistent with their adoption rates throughout the pandemic but that they’ve had to get creative.
“We’ve had to do a lot of our adoptions electronically, meet and greets off-site, and counseling with animals online,” Glunt said. “We’ve relied heavily on social media and our foster parents to highlight our animals.”
All of the dogs at LCHS transfer into foster homes while cats go through Tally Cat Café until they’re adopted due to limited space at the humane society.
Glunt suggests that people who are uncertain on whether to adopt should foster first to test the waters without having to make a full-blown commitment. LCHS supplies food, toys, beds, medical care and also provides foster parents with a list of what to have on hand when adopting their pet, if they choose to do so.
“I want people to consider their life now in comparison to their life five to ten years from now,” Glunt said. “We really want them to consider adoption as a life-long commitment to that pet.”
LCHS encourages people to fill out an adoption application online even if the pet of their dream isn’t listed, because they may be in the program but have yet to be fixed and posted to LCHSwebsite.
“With us it’s not about first come, first serve,” Glunt said. “It’s about a good match for the animal.”
Katie Logue, one of the owners of Tally Cat Cafe, says their adoption rates have tripled since COVID-19.
“Before COVID we were doing about 5 adoptions a week,”Logue said. “When we reopened, adoptions for cats actually went up to 15 cats adopted out per week.”
Logue suggests that the cause behind this increase is because people are at home more due to quarantining and that cats are good comforters.
Rodneysha Martin, a third-year criminal justice major at Florida A&M University, said she wanted something of comfort during the time she spent in quarantine.
Martin said she went to PetSmart on Apalachee Parkway to get food for her pet snake when she came across a lady who had just rescued four puppies. They exchanged social media accounts and two months later, Martin decided she wanted one to call her own.
“During quarantine I wanted to have a sense of responsibility and just something to make my days better,”Martin said. “I figured a chihuahua would make it better.”
For more information on how to adopt or fosterdogs, go to the Leon County Humane Society’s website at www.leoncountyhumane.org and for more information on adopting cats go to Tally Cat Café’s website at www.tallycatcafe.com.