Humane Society sees an uptick in people surrendering man’s best friend

RAPID CITY, S.D. (KOTA) - For months, animal shelters across the country have experienced an increase in pet surrenders, especially when it comes to man’s best friend.

Rapid City isn’t immune to this phenomenon, with the Humane Society of the Black Hills hitting capacity.

According to various news outlets across the country more and more pet owners are surrendering their four-legged friends.

“We’re seeing more dogs in the shelter,” said Jerry Steinley, executive director of the Humane Society of the Black Hills. “So whereas this time last year, we might have had several kennels open, this time this year, we’re full. We’re starting to see more surrenders, we’re starting to see more puppies and just more dogs in general.”

The pandemic, inflation, and housing issues are all reasons why animal shelters and humane societies are seeing more people relinquishing ownership.

“I think there’s a lot of reasons and it’s just the perfect storm of all these things happening. I think there was a lot of spay/neuter that didn’t get done during COVID and I think we’re starting to see the puppies from that. I think there’s not as many good housing options for people right now and we’re seeing some people dropping off animals that can’t find a place to stay with them. And it’s a hard economy,’ continued Steinley. “It’s hard, people don’t have a ton of expendable money, and animals are expensive.”

As an open-admission shelter serving about 20 counties, the Humane Society of the Black Hills only has 94 dog kennels.

“We have about 100 dogs under the roof so we have a lot of dogs. So if you’re looking for a puppy, you’re looking for a bigger dog, there’s a lot of options down here,’ said Steinley. “Right now we’re doing a foster-to-adopt program, we encourage people to look at that. We’re doing a name-your-price sale on dogs and then we work with other shelters, who’re pretty much full right now as you can imagine. So, we just daily, we try to get them adopted, we try to get them out, we try to get them socialized and it’s just a constant kind of project.”

Despite the influx of man’s best friend, Steinley reminds people the shelter is still open to those who need it.

The Humane Society of the Black Hills is open daily starting at 11 a.m. They’ll even be open on New Year’s Eve if you’re looking to add a furry family member to ring in the New Year with.

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