06/30/2026
URGENT: Please Speak Up Before This Policy Goes Into Effect
One of North Carolina’s highest-intake municipal shelters, with one of the largest budgets and the most resources in the state, has announced that it will no longer accept owner surrenders.
This decision will have devastating consequences for animals, rescues, nearby shelters, and our entire community.
Here is why this matters:
• Nationally, owner surrenders make up approximately one-third of shelter intake. If that trend holds true here, thousands of animals each year could lose access to their municipal shelter.
• Instead of accepting these animals, owners will reportedly be given a list of resources, likely local rescues to contact. The problem is that rescues are already beyond capacity.
• Charlotte Animal Care & Control has two physical shelter facilities, extensive staff, and historically the largest foster and volunteer network in North Carolina. Most rescues have none of those resources. Many have no facility at all, operate entirely through foster homes, are run by only a handful of volunteers, and are already overwhelmed with veterinary debt and full foster homes.
There is simply no rescue, or even group of rescues, that can absorb the loss of roughly one-third of the intake from one of North Carolina’s busiest shelters. If you disagree please provide me list of rescues that can take on this number of animals going forward!
The consequences will be severe:
• More animals abandoned, dumped, or left to roam our communities.
• Increased public safety risks for people and pets.
• Even greater strain on already overwhelmed rescues and foster networks.
• Increased intake at surrounding county shelters that have far fewer resources.
• More animals suffering or dying because there will simply be nowhere for them to go.
Anyone with experience in animal welfare understands that this is not a solution. It is simply shifting responsibility from the organization with the greatest resources to organizations with the fewest.
Unfortunately, many fosters and volunteers may be afraid to speak publicly because the shelter has previously removed volunteers who spoke against its policies and now requires volunteers to sign an agreement allowing them to be dismissed for doing so.
That makes it even more important for the community to speak up.
Please help stop this policy before it takes effect and demand that those that made this decision be removed from the shelter because anyone that understands animal rescue knows this should never ever even have been considered as an option! People that made this choice are certainly not capable of doing what’s best for the animals and our community.
Please:
• Email Dr. Fisher at: [email protected]
• Contact Mecklenburg County Commissioners and local elected officials. (I will add emails in the comments)
• Share this post.
• Tag local rescues, shelters, news organizations, and community leaders.
• Comment respectfully on the shelter’s public posts and ask that this decision be reconsidered.
The animals have no voice. We must be theirs.
*** I have stayed quiet about many decisions this shelter has made over the years, including intentionally adopting out unaltered dogs especially while using first - come and first-served adoption process, and banning fosters and volunteers who raised legitimate concerns about its policies.
But I cannot stay quiet about this and neither can you!
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Please remember, I am just a person who loves dogs and uses my business to help homeless dogs.
Making this post is a risk because it could impact my business. But I will always choose to stand up for dogs in need. Doing what I believe is right will always come before financial gain!
