United States – According to the National Data base Shelter Animals Count, there are fewer people adopting from U.S. shelters in 2024, than in 2023. Shelter Animals Count’s 2024 Mid-Year Analysis compares January through June to prior years.

The report shows that animals are experiencing longer stays and populations are rising, with 322,000 more pets entering the system than leaving. The number of incoming cats and dogs to shelters across the nation is staggering, with over 3,118,000 recorded.

According to the report, the number of stray intakes has fallen by 6-percent, but the owner surrenders are up from 30.5% in 2019 to 32% in 2024. Cats are driving the increase. Surprisingly, dog intakes have fallen by 4-percent; the decrease is attributed to fewer stray intakes and owner surrenders. However, the report states:

Meanwhile, other intakes, such as dogs seized or born in-care, have risen by 3%, adding 7,000 more dogs compared to 2023.

The report suggests that self-rehoming could help with the overwhelming shelter issue:

Supported self-rehoming is a way for pet owners to directly find a new home
for their pet, outside of the animal sheltering system. From January-June 2024,
approximately 1 out of 5 of these would-be owner surrenders resulted in an
adoption thus far and almost10% of the original pet owners ended up
choosing to keep their pets instead of rehoming through any channel.

Find the full report here.

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