Florida animal shelter causes outrage after claiming to be full for local dogs, then they imported ‘more desirable’ puppies from Georgia

An animal shelter in Florida has been facing some serious backlash online after claiming to be too full to take in more dogs, only to ship in “more desirable” dogs from another state. The Humane Society of Tampa Bay in Tampa Bay accepted six hound puppies from a Georgia shelter despite not having room for medium or large-sized dogs.

On March 25, the shelter announced via a Facebook post that all of the 363 kennels available were occupied and that it would not be able to accept any more medium and large-sized dogs. Of course, there’s only so much a shelter can do: if they’re at full capacity, it can’t exactly be helped. The shelter supposedly refused 32 dogs over the course of three days towards the end of March. However, what happened next caught the attention of skeptical eyes.

According to an article from the Tampa Bay Times (via Daily Mail), an email sent out to volunteers at the shelter asked if there was someone who could make a pickup on Sunday, explaining, “We’ve got some more animals who need help flying into St. Pete/Clearwater airport.” Humane Society CEO, Sherry Silk stated that the shelter had accepted six hound puppies.

Of course, the knowledge that the Humane Society intends to take in more dogs despite supposedly being full has left many scratching their heads. If they supposedly have no more space, then how come they’re importing dogs from another state?

Animal advocate claims Humane Society is after more desirable dogs

While Silk argued that it was simply a case of not being able to house bigger dogs and that the puppies could presumably be taken in as they were small, not everyone was convinced. Animal advocate Anna Cooke questioned why they would be “turning away the community’s dogs and importing other, more desirable dogs?”

The implication is that the Humane Society of Tampa Bay is rejecting dogs that need a home in the local community in favor of puppies that may be more desirable for adoption. While it’s normal, and oftentimes admirable, for shelters to take on dogs from other shelters in different states, Cooke is wondering why they wouldn’t take care of the dogs in their own community above all else.

A volunteer who worked with the Humane Society for five years claimed that the adoption fees for puppies are much higher than those for older dogs. The fee for a puppy is around $250, whereas the fee for a dog over eight years old is around $50. On top of that, it’s likely the puppies from Georgia will be adopted within a few days. 

So could money be a factor in the charity’s decision to reject certain dogs? It certainly could be a factor if you look at it from a more cynical perspective. The CEO claimed that people are more likely to adopt puppies and that, by having them, people may be turned onto the older dogs in the shelter, too.