Regina dog rescue facing slowdown in adoptions, intake freeze possible

Regina animal rescues are facing challenges as more animals are in need of homes than there are fosters to provide them.

Many dogs are currently in the care of Bright Eyes Dog Rescue, and volunteers explain that puppies have been in the care of foster families longer than usual.

“It’s really, really hard for our volunteers and directors to say no to call for help,” said Megan Folden, a volunteer at Bright Eyes.

“It’s very hard on the soul to have to do that and then for our fosters in care, we have puppies in care way longer than we should.”

Adoptions have been very slow recently according to Folden. This creates difficulty when the need for animal rescues remain high.

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Facing increased demand may lead to an intake freeze, meaning Bright Eyes will be unable to respond to calls to help animals in need.

While there is no certain reason for the lack of adoptions – volunteers speculate that cold weather and increased cost of living could be a factor, in addition to the abundance of pet adoptions and returns which took place over the COVID-19 pandemic.

Bright Eyes has dropped their adoption fees in the hopes of removing some of the barriers.

Puppies are available for adoption at eight weeks old, and the rescue is seeing an increased number of dogs staying in foster homes at three-four months old.