This dog was left at the Animal Welfare League of Arlington with his bed and other items.
Animal shelters across the country have recently been hit hard with lost and abandoned pets that never get reclaimed by their owners. These waves of displaced animals aren’t slowing down.
Every year since 2020, the Animal Welfare League of Arlington (AWLA) has brought an increasing number of domestic animals — namely dogs — into its care. In 2024 already, the AWLA has taken in nearly 400 stray pets, and has to date only reunited 37 of them with their families.
“This is a nationwide issue right now,” Chelsea Jones, Senior Communication Specialist for the AWLA, said. “Shelters across the country are taking in more abandoned and stray animals than they usually do. Our animal control officers find them in the field, some are turned in by people to our offices, and we’ve even had them tied to the side of the building.”
A box of kittens might sound cute, but not when the kittens are being abandoned, like one box found at AWLA.
While the AWLA has always dealt with abandoned pets to some degree, the breed type of both dogs and cats that they encounter in their abandoned and strayed population has changed.
“We are taking in more purebred dogs like Corgis and doodles,” Jones explained. “We did not typically see that in the past. Typically, purebred dogs or cats would be reclaimed in a day. We have been noticing that decreasing.”
Shelter professionals attribute this uptick in displaced animals — the mixed breeds and purebreds alike — in part to the economic landscape of the last two years.
“The cost of living for everything, including for pet care, has gone up in the last couple of years,” Jones said. “Some people have to now make a choice between food for their families and pet food. Veterinary care has also gotten more expensive.”
Related to the rising costs of veterinary care, the AWLA has found more lost animals to be intact (not neutered) — and without microchips — in the last couple years.
“The vast majority of strays that come in are not spayed or neutered, so they are more likely to roam and get lost,” Jones said. “Then more people are not coming in to reclaim their animals. The reunions are just not happening as regularly as they used to.”
If you have an animal that you are no longer able to take care of, the AWLA urges you to officially surrender your animal to their care. There is no surrender fee, and the AWLA team can initiate adoption processes for surrendered animals more quickly than they can if a pet comes in as abandoned or stray.
“When we don’t know who the owner is, we by state law have to wait six to ten days before we start the process of spay/neuter, which is the first step toward getting animals into new homes,” Jones said. “However, if we are in touch with the pet’s existing owners, we can get them ready sooner. There is the misconception among people that they have to pay money to surrender their pet — or that they will get treated unfairly. We try to get people to understand that we are here to help if you can’t keep your pet. We are never judgmental.”
If you are unsure of whether or not you have the means to care for your animal, you can also reach out to the AWLA for support.
“When there are financial issues, we can support them,” Jones said. “We are aware that, especially in our area, even spay and neutering is expensive. We can help; we want pets to be at home with families and we realize families take different shapes and are in different needs at different times.”
For people who find a stray animal, best practices are to take basic actions to find the owners before bringing the pet in question to a shelter, which can be a chaotic, stressful environment for pets who are used to being in a home.
“We understand that people can’t always do it, but we ask people to do due diligence,” Jones said. “Knock on doors in the community where the animal is found, and post on social media or Nextdoor if you can keep the animal in your care while you wait for responses. Most of the time, animals don’t travel very far. We see stories of people reuniting with their pets after ten years, but that is few and far between. Of course, if an animal is in distress or exhibiting aggressive behavior, give us a call. But for friendly strays, more often than not, doing some digging around the community works. More often than not, you will find the owner quickly.”
As for stray cats, Jones said that the public should know to leave them be — that they usually make their way home on their own in due time.
The AWLA exists to empower everyone in Arlington to better take care of animals both in homes and those who have lost their way.
Contact the AWLA if you have any questions, whether it’s about an animal you found in a concerning place or about one you have concerns about keeping at home. If shelters are made aware of an animal issue before the animal arrives at their facilities, they can more efficiently determine the best course of action.
To learn more, visit https://www.awla.org/.