PILSEN — Chicago’s only city-run animal shelter is facing a dramatic increase in animal intakes — especially from people surrendering their pets — which is straining its resources and crowding the facility.

Chicago Animal Care and Control has taken in an average of 56 pets per day so far in May at its Pilsen shelter, said Armando Tejeda, the agency’s public information officer. That’s up significantly since 2013-2017, when the shelter took in an average of 34 animals per day, Tejeda said.

“We’re doing the best we can as far as managing transfers and adoption, but just to be on this track and trying to sustain this intake volume, it’s increasingly hard,” Tejeda said.

Tejeda said the rise reflects a national trend: Chicago Animal Control has talked with shelters in other major cities such as New York, Los Angeles and Miami, all of which are experiencing similar issues and struggling with limited resources to address it.

After a brief increase in adoptions early in the COVID-19 pandemic, shelters started sounding the alarm about overcrowding in 2021 . Animal populations boomed during the pandemic; the cost of vital goods, such as pet food, has gone up; and landlords have been charging renters larger pet fees, Tejeda said. Some pet owners have been unable to keep up with the costs and have to surrender their animals to Animal Control or other shelters.

“Once the evictions started up again, we saw a huge influx of animals,” Tejeda said. “People that wanted to keep their pets … now they’re being imposed with fees from the landlord, either an annual fee or a monthly fee added on top of their rent to keep their pet.”

Susanna Wickham, the CEO of PAWS Chicago, the city’s largest no-kill animal shelter, said the financial commitment required from pet owners has grown and is not always fully understood by adopters.

“It’s really the escalating cost of pet ownership and inflation squeezing people to the brink where they they’re losing housing, they’re unable to buy food for their pets or they’re unable to pay for a veterinary care for their pets, and so it’s this escalating on affordability,” she said.

PAWS Chicago saw the number of animals being adopted or being transferred to another shelter go up “dramatically” in 2024, and they’re rising again, Wickham said. But it’s not keeping up with the influx of animals being surrendered to Animal Control.

Tejeda said there are resources at Chicago Animal Control and elsewhere in the city for people struggling to afford, train or take care of their pets.

Chicago Animal Control put together a pet resource sheet to help pet owners in need. It lists resources for temporarily housing pets, getting them medical support and behavior assistance and getting them spayed or neutered, among other things.

Animal Control also has a trailer with food, toys, leashes and more, all donated by the community from the agency’s Amazon Wishlist . These items are free for anyone in need, and they have stopped some people from surrendering their pets.

“We’re able to offer pet food and resources to get them by until the next paycheck, and that’s all it took,” Tejeda said. “They didn’t realize that they can come here and get free [supplies].”

PAWS also sends “pet owner support” to Animal Control five days a week, Wickham said. In “about 15 to 20 percent of cases, there is something that you can do or some sort of support that you can offer” when someone is considering surrendering a pet to help them figure out how to keep the animal, she said.

Tejeda also emphasized the reality of pets who are surrendered to Animal Control. The shelter can only have up to 250 dogs and just under 200 cats at any one time, so when 56 animals come in daily, spots get taken up fast. Stray animals are required to stay at the shelter for five days if they’re microchipped and seven days if they are not before they can be adopted or transferred to another shelter. This means that stray animals get priority when it comes to space.

“When it comes time to choose for euthanasia, we try to go based on behavior, deterioration, health of the animal, anything like that,” Tejeda said. “But if those categories are out, unfortunately, owner surrenders are next, just because we’re mandated to keep strays here.”

Tejeda said neighbors should only surrender a pet to Animal Control as a last resort. He suggests people use resources from Animal Control and other organizations, rely on community and ask for help before deciding to surrender an animal.

For CACC’s full pet resource list, click here .