San Jacinto Animal Shelter
RIVERSIDE (CNS) – The Riverside County Department of Animal Services sounded the alarm Tuesday about overcrowding at the San Jacinto Valley Animal Campus, where a rapid rise in impounded canines has squeezed space to the limit, prompting officials to appeal to the public for help with adoptions, as well as temporary fostering.
“Operating in critical over-capacity puts animals at risk of sickness or injury and is not safe for pets or staff,” agency Director Mary Martin said. “We need to be ready to continue receiving animals that have nowhere else to go, and we are hoping the community is willing to open their homes now more than ever to save lives.”
The San Jacinto Valley Animal Campus has twice the number of dogs it can reasonably accommodate in pens, officials said. They’ve set a goal of adopting out or sending at least 30 large canines to pet fosters by Thursday.
Fostering entails taking an impounded animal home for set periods, from a few weeks to a few months, without any obligation to formally adopt. Pets are eligible to receive no-cost veterinary care from the county while in foster homes.
In recent months, there’s been an elevated number of domesticated animals dumped or abandoned around the Riverside metropolitan area, reflected in social media posts and other channels, possibly related to cost-of-living burdens.
“Shelter overcrowding means some animals are at-risk of euthanasia simply due to lack of space and the inability to properly care for them,” the Department of Animal Services stated. “All pets are available for adoption at no cost and include spay/neuter, microchips, vaccinations and an engraved ID tag.”
The San Jacinto facility is open Tuesday to Friday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Saturdays and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
In May, the board approved a “no kill” policy, resolving that the county would make it an objective to preserve the lives of a minimum of 90% of all cats and dogs impounded at the county’s four shelters annually.
The policy entails greater emphasis on free or low-cost spay and neuter clinics, enhanced return-to-owner programs that unite lost pets with their loved ones, adoption campaigns with full fee waivers and expedited “trap- neuter-return-to-field” programs for cats that were inaugurated in March 2024.
The no-kill effort dovetails with a reformation initiated last year by the board. One organization previously alleged that the county had the highest pet “kill rate” in the nation.
Information on adoptions, fostering and pet reclamation can be found at rcdas.org.
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