By Dylan Sciacca | Reporter
Dogs and cats all around the world are struggling to find their forever homes and often end up in the shelter.
According to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals’s 2025 animal shelter statistics, about 5.8 million dogs and cats entered U.S. shelters and rescues while 4.2 million pets were adopted, leaving many pets in shelters across the country.
Windy Leal is the communication specialist at Pet Circle Regional Animal Center. She says that they have been well over their limit.
“We have 126 adult dog kennels, and those are currently at 136% capacity,” Leal said.
With being so overwhelmed with dogs, the shelter has to make hard adjustments to house them all. Overcrowding has caused desperation and forced creativity with spacing.
“We have some dogs that are doubled up,” Leal said. “We also have some dogs in pop-up kennels because we don’t have enough kennels on the adoption floor. We even have dogs that stay in staff members’ offices when we have to because we would rather have a dog in our office than make hard decisions.”
This overcrowding has a clear cause and does not happen by accident. When pet owners do not spay or neuter their cats and dogs, more and more unwanted animals show up. More animals are showing up or are being turned in than being taken out, and after several months of this, the shelter begins to run out of options.
“We have taken 58 animals in the past seven days, and we have only had 36 adoptions,” Leal said.
While it is a struggle now, Leal said she is grateful to have Baylor not only because of the help they have given, but the potential help they can give.
New Braunfels junior Drew Carter recently adopted a dog from Pet Circle. He said the dog is just as important to him as he is to the dog.
“Adopting Tux was such a rewarding decision,” Carter said. “My roommates and I love him … It also feels good knowing that he is in a good home and has freed up space for other dogs. If someone is thinking of adopting a dog and has the resources to, do it.”
Although many Baylor students may not be able to fully adopt, there are plenty of things students can do to help support the animals in finding their forever homes. Pet Circle has a program called Bark, which is like a dog or cat vacation for the day that anyone can be a part of, whether as a volunteer or just someone looking to get a dog out for the day.
“Bark is basically when you come in to borrow a dog for a little while,” Leal said. “It can be 30 minutes, or it can be all day. All you do is show your ID and we can give you some recommendations of dogs that would really love to get out and have fun for a while. Maybe you take two if you have a friend and the dogs are friends. These Bark breaks really help socialize them.”
For students interested in adopting or participating in Bark, Pet Circle is at 2032 Circle Road and is open 12-6 p.m. most weekdays, 12-5 p.m. on Fridays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays and 1-5 p.m. on Sundays.
