BOISE — Over 800 animals have been adopted at the Idaho Humane Society since COVID-19 hit Idaho in mid-March, but this is lower than usual.
A combination of travel restrictions limiting animal transfers from other rescues, and a slowdown in spay and neuter procedures, has lowered the number of animals up for adoption. IHS spokeswoman Kristine Schellhaas said there is always a high demand for pets in the rapidly-growing Treasure Valley, but because of the pandemic, there have been new limitations on how animals flow through their system to a new home.
“We tried to save (personal protective equipment) so we’re not competing for it when human lives are at stake, for just a normal spay and neuter,” she said. “We definitely slowed that down and only took care of animals that absolutely needed to go on the adoption floor. Unless the animal was in a really bad emergency case we didn’t take animals.”