Maricopa Animal Care and Control

A dog at a Maricopa County Animal Care and Control shelter.

Maricopa County’s animal shelters are overcrowded. And to try to reduce the number of dogs, the shelters are waiving adoption fees through Monday night. 

Kim Powell is with Maricopa County Animal Control. She says more than 2,000 pets have been surrendered to the shelters this year.

“Right now, we’re kind of seeing more intake so more animals coming into the shelter, more lost pets, more strays and then more owners’ surrenders. And we’re seeing more of those than we are adoptions, unfortunately,” she says.

Powell says the housing crisis and other financial hardships are contributing to the surge of surrenders. The overcrowding has led to dogs having to share the same kennel.