144 cats taken in by Windsor's Humane Society so far this month, as shelter looks to find homes
Executive director Melanie Coulter says most of the kittens taken in are strays
The Windsor Essex County Humane Society is appealing to people to consider adopting or fostering an animal following an influx of new cats since the beginning of November.
Executive director of the humane society Melanie Coulter said so far this month they have taken in 144 cats. During the same period in 2019, a total of 132 cats were taken in.
"[We're] definitely seeing a little bit of a spike right now so we are encouraging people to consider adoption, consider fostering if they've never done it before," Coulter said.
"Most of the kittens that came in were stray kittens. Some of them are surrenders but a lot of them are stray kittens."
According to Coulter, over the past week, there were "a number of specific situations" leading to many surrenders from one home.
"So, that kind of made last week a little bit of a crunch week in terms of a lot more coming in than were getting adopted," she said.
For people looking to adopt, Coulter said there is "a great adoption package" available.
"If you're looking for a temporary animal, fostering can be a great opportunity because you can help them on their path to a new home," she said.
Meanwhile, Coulter is reminding people that it really helps to co-ordinate intake with the humane society and they should call before taking an animal in.
"Sometimes if people are surrendering their own animal it may be a wait of a week or two just to make sure that we have space available to bring them in and have a good amount of room available for them and adopters ready," Coulter said.
"This really helps the animals because it helps them shorten their stay [and] find homes more quickly."
People are also encouraged to call the humane society if they find animals in urgent situations.
With files from Darrin Di Carlo