(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) - Animal shelters around the country are facing a big problem.

More animals are being surrendered, or taken in than are being adopted, and as you can imagine, that's causing a lot of hardships.

Our Phil Luciano has more.

- [Phil] US animal shelters are getting more and more crowded.

Nearly a million more pets are crowding shelters compared to three years ago.

Over the past 12 months, one in six dog owners gave up a dog.

Why?

Almost 1/3 of those owners cited an inability to afford dog food, or animal care.

1/4 of those surrendered dogs went to a shelter, or rescue.

Dog adoptions over the last four years lagged behind 2018 and 2019.

In 2023, 6.5 million animals entered shelters and rescues.

4.8 million dogs and cats were adopted.

359,000 dogs were euthanized.

330,000 cats were euthanized.

(somber music) - Joining us now is Kitty Yanko, the Director of the Peoria Humane Society.

Good to see you again, Kitty.

- It's great to be here.

- Yeah, we have more than three minutes to talk.

This will be nice.

- I love that.

- First of all, tell us the difference between the Humane Society and PCAPS.

I know that you work together, but you're separate entities.

Kind of explain to people what you do.

- Sure, so it is difficult for people to understand, but Peoria Humane Society is a nonprofit solely supported through donations and fundraising.

Been around in this area for over 80 years, and doing great and thriving, but they're, you know, not part of the city, or the county, although we partner with them.

Peoria County currently runs the animal shelter, or PCAPS, in Peoria, and it went from PAWS back in the day when it was Peoria Animal Welfare Shelter and the city was involved, and now it's PCAPS, which is Peoria County Animal Protection Services.

- Okay.

- So they're, you know, county-funded, and, you know, all that, so- - Gotcha.

Well, but looking at these national numbers, we were talking earlier, and you say that may not necessarily be the case in terms of more animals coming into shelters and not as many going out.

What are we seeing here locally?

- So locally, you know, if you wanna say the numbers are up, they are up a little bit from last year, but I have to go back more than 30 years.

So when I started in 1992, the Peoria shelter was getting 8,500 animals in annually.

So that's more than 200 in the busy months.

And so, if you look at those numbers compared to now, I think last year PCAPS had about 5,480 animals coming in, and the year before it was around 4,800.

So yes, the numbers are going up slightly, but it's kind of relative to what it used to be.

So I'm still not excited to say that over 5,000 animals are coming into the Peoria shelter, but in comparison, it's less than many years ago.

- And why do you think that Peoria is doing better than a lot of the country?

- I think Illinois is a progressive state, and I think that there are laws in place that help animals in Illinois, which is good, and I think we have a really strong animal control program in Peoria, and I'm proud of what the, the work that they've done over the years with good leadership.

And so, I don't wanna discount the number of animals in, because it's still sad to understand that, you know, many animals are coming into the shelters and they do have to be euthanized.

I think the reality is that there's no way you can take in that number of animals at any location, any facility, and not have to euthanize.

- Mmm-hmm, when people do have to give up an animal, what are some of the reasons that they tell you guys?

- Well, the shelter's, you know, commonly faced with people moving.

You know, they lose their job.

They are irresponsible, you know, not able to care for their pet.

I think over the years, sadly, that hasn't changed.

People are still irresponsible.

We still have a pet overpopulation problem.

Even though many programs are in place to help with that, it's still happening, you know?

At the end of the day, people have to be able to take care of their pets and their children and every other aspect of their life and do a good job, and, you know, the reality is that they're not.

And so, I think, you know, like I said, location, relocation, job loss, those are probably the more common ones.

Sometimes, people have a medical emergency with their pet, and, you know, they're faced with, "I can't afford to treat this pet."

Sometimes, it's a lack of money.

Sometimes, it's a lack of knowledge.

They don't know what to do, and so, they turn to the shelter, and I'm happy to say that our shelter in Peoria has always been a safe haven for animals, and I never want that to change.

When somebody can't keep their pet, for whatever reason, they need to be able to take it to the animal shelter, and feel that it's gonna be safe, and it's a good place for it to be.

- I know that your shelter and other shelters around our area try and do their best in terms of telling people before they adopt, "Hey, this is what you're getting into."

- Yes.

- Do you think sometimes it just doesn't, people are so blinded by this cute little animal, they just say, "Yeah, whatever," and- - I think that's definitely true, and I think looking at a small puppy that's gonna grow, you know, to be over 80 pounds is a big, big difference in what you're looking at in front of you.

And people go into it with the idea that this is gonna be easy and fun, and it is great, because pets do offer a lot of love, and, you know, there's rewards with owning a pet, but the reality is day in and day out, just like children, you know, they have problems, and they're not perfect, and they're gonna, you know, cost you money, they're gonna take up your time, and they're gonna do things that you don't always like.

But, you know, with that in mind, you have to realize that it's a long-term commitment, and I think that's difficult, especially in this day and age where everything is instant gratification.

- Yeah, we recently had a dog that was sick, and spent about $1,600- - Wow- - In vet bills.

It was, yeah, it was painful, but it was a good learning opportunity for my daughter.

I said, "This is why we don't have "infinite animals in our house."

- Right.

- Because when they get sick, and they grow, and they eat more than they did when they were a puppy, and they cost you more money- - Yes.

- You have to stick with it.

- Right.

- If you can.

- It's a commitment, and, you know, we tell people prepare for 10 to 15 years with a pet, and, you know, a lot of times, people have their pets in their home longer than their children, you know, depending on the age of the animal when you get it.

And so, it's a big commitment, and you just have to be prepared.

- I know a lot of people, but you talked about maybe losing a job, being transferred, maybe the place they live now, if they live in an apartment, or a condo, allows an animal, but then they have to move, and the place, maybe they don't have a choice, they have to move somewhere that doesn't allow animals.

Do you find that a lot?

- Yes, and that's a common reason why pets do go to the shelter is the person moved, or they've had a, you know, life-changing experience, and they no longer can keep the pet.

I am not gonna say that everybody that turns over their pet to the shelter is a bad person.

I don't feel like that's fair.

Sometimes, people are doing their best.

They love the animal.

They just, they have to make some hard decisions.

And so, again, I think animal shelters need to be prepared to take in those animals, you know, even when it's not ideal to take in one more dog, or cat, but we want them to be safe, and we want them to have a place to go instead of being turned out on the streets, or given away, and I think we all, you know, just recently heard the story about that poor cat that was given up by someone, and that was a horrible story.

But that's the reality is that if an animal's just given away, you don't know where it's going, and you don't know whether that person's gonna do a good job with it.

- If you're not familiar with what Kitty's talking about, recently, a cat was thrown out of a car window, a moving car, and it was recorded, and put on social media for whatever reason, and that's, again, another thing, you know?

When people need to get rid of an animal and they put it on Facebook, or other social media, say, "Hey, come get this," you never know who's- - You don't know, and I'm sure that the owner, and I'm not blaming her at all, she had probably had no idea that that was gonna be the end result of her cat when she's, you know, moved and couldn't keep it.

So these are just things to be thinking about, but, you know, it's a reality.

And so, we want these animals to be safe, and the shelter, I think is a good place for them if there's no other appropriate place for them.

- Recently in California, they passed legislation that gives incentives to people who are building low income housing, giving them incentives to allow pets as a way to get more pets out of the shelters.

As far as, you know, around Central Illinois, and what we have with renters, and apartments, and things like that, is it a premium to find an apartment that allows, a complex that allows pets?

- I'm not exactly familiar with what all the, you know, leasing requirements are, but I do know that more and more places are allowing pets.

It's more common.

You know, emotional support animals are kind of a thing now, and people see the value of having a pet, and I do believe that a lot of landlords are now allowing them.

And of course, there's usually a deposit, and there's some additional cost with that, but it's nice to see that there's more options for people when they do wanna take a pet with them.

- Mmm-hmm, we talked a little bit ago about the expense of having an animal, and some of the statistics I've seen nationwide say, you know, vet bills are going up, food's going up, everything's going up.

Is that a detriment to getting animals adopted?

Is is that a stumbling block there?

- I don't know that a lot of people actually think about it.

You're absolutely right that the costs are up, but I'm not positive that the average person thinking about getting a pet does that research, and thinks, you know, like you did, you know, "This is what it's gonna cost "if we have an emergency surgery for our pet."

I wish more people would, but I think that the costs are up, and we see that from the calls that we get.

We have some really dedicated pet owners calling the Peoria Humane Society, saying, you know, "My dog needs a dental," or, you know, "My cat has an infection," or they need surgery, and just the simple spay/neuter surgeries is sometimes running 600, $700.

It can go up to 900 for a large breed female dog.

And so, the costs are absolutely up.

I don't know for sure that that's a reason why people are bringing animals in, but it certainly could be.

- Speaking of spay and neutering, are things, you know, you've been in this industry a long time, are things getting better?

Are more people spaying and neutering their pets?

- I think they are.

We're seeing some of that happening, and especially with dogs.

I feel that cats are still a thing that is challenging.

I have to admit, I'm frustrated with the level of cats that are just turned outside.

We have roaming, free-roaming, feral cats, sometimes cats that aren't feral, they're just outside living their life, and I feel that that's not a great life for cats.

Yes, spaying, neutering is important, and if we can vaccinate them and they're out there spayed, neutered, and vaccinated, that's better than nothing.

But still, the reality is that sometimes they don't have a good quality of life, and I'd rather see cats in a home be with a caretaker that's, you know, daily making sure that their needs are provided for.

- Now, are you talking about people who have a litter of kittens and just leave them outside when you're talking about that, or are you saying they're just fending for themselves?

They're- - It's everything.

I think we have a level of cat problem out there that, in my mind, needs to be addressed.

We have cats that are living just out on the own, so they're not spayed/neutered.

They're having litter after litter.

Sometimes, they get brought into the shelter.

Sometimes, they're just out there, you know, with no one to care for them, and, you know, horrible things happen.

Moms, the mom cats especially, you know, if they're not spayed and neutered, they're just gonna keep having kittens.

Then you have the people who kind of claim the cat, and it's on their property, and they're feeding it, but it might not be spayed/neutered.

It might be, I don't know, but they're still reproducing, and they're still contributing to the overpopulation problem.

And it's hard for the cats and dogs.

It's hard for all animals to just be out there without, you know, good care every day.

- Sure.

Well, let's talk about something that we hate talking about, but we have to, euthanasia.

You were telling me earlier that the numbers as far as euthanasia since you started are much better than they were.

Can you tell us a little bit about that?

- So when I started in, well, I started in the early '90s, but going back even to the 1980s, my understanding is that the numbers, and you've got the statistics, I shared those with you, but the, what's the number- - Let's see, it looks like- - That we have- - According to the ASPCA- - Actually, it's the Department of Ag.

- Well, I was talking about the euthanasia numbers just nationwide- - Oh, okay.

- First, in the '80s, it was 15 million, then it went down to a million and a half in 2017, and in 2022, less than a million- - Right.

- So that's quite a drop.

- Right, thank you for listing those.

I don't always have the good memory to quote that, but it is a drop.

And so, I think when we look over a period of many, many years, the numbers are going down.

In the state of Illinois, we're in pretty good shape.

You know, they call live release rate, which is where animals come into shelters, and, you know, leave.

You know, that is much better than it used to be, and we're acceptable in the sense that we're, I believe we're under, our live release rate is over 90% of the animals coming into shelters are, you know, going back out.

So that's pretty good compared to some other states.

Again, euthanasia is difficult.

Nobody wants to see an animal euthanized for no reason, but the reality is that when you have that many animals coming into a shelter, it's not safe, or fair to the animals to be turned away because of euthanasia.

I'd rather have them at the shelter and know that they're safe than to just say that, you know, "We don't wanna euthanize anymore."

I don't feel like that's a good thing for the animals, or our community, you know, to have animals just out there, because we don't want 'em at the shelter - And euthanasia, I mean, that's the very last thing you're considering, right?

I mean it- - Yes.

- I'd hate for people to think that it's like, "Oh, euthanize, euthanize, euthanize."

It's a lot of thought that that gets put into it, and something that you don't wanna do.

- Absolutely, the shelter, the workers at the animal shelter in Peoria, and I feel like across the country, they love animals.

They are there to help, and they don't wanna euthanize.

They're doing everything they can to keep the animals in the home if it's possible.

If there's another place the animal can go before it goes to the shelter, you know, that's, re-homing an animal is always great.

You know, we want that.

So if they're at the shelter and they have to be euthanized, you know, sometimes it's temperament, sometimes it's health, and I will say at the Peoria shelter, we provide support to the shelter animals.

If there's, let's say there's a surgery that's needed, or there's a medical condition, you know, Peoria Humane Society steps in to say, "Let's treat that animal.

"We want it to live.

"We want it to, you know, get a chance for adoption."

And so, we're doing that every day as often as we can with the animals.

But there are some animals that either, you know, for sake of their age, their health, maybe they have something that's just not curable, it's not treatable, those animals deserve to have a humane death and not suffer.

Then you've got animals that are maybe under-socialized, or they haven't been in a home where they learn to trust people.

Sometimes, those animals, you know, can be rehabilitated.

They can go into another, like a foster home, and they can be shown how to love people, but sometimes, they can't.

And so, it's a safety issue.

We don't want animals out in the community that are gonna hurt someone.

So there are times when that tough decision has to be made for that reason as well.

- And looking at these numbers, we were talking before the interview, when you look at the intake numbers for dogs and cats, the euthanasia percentage, you also mentioned animals that are transferred in.

Some shelters take in animals from other states, so that kind of skews the numbers a little bit.

Could you talk a little bit more about that?

- Yes, I think, to my knowledge, there were more than 20,000 animals transferred in in recent years.

I think those are some of the statistics that we looked at earlier.

But, you know, that's a large number of animals.

So when you think about them going to a, you know, whether it's a foster-based program, or an animal shelter, or a humane society, whatever it is, they're taking up a space.

And so, if they're coming from another state, and, you know, we have animals right here in our community, we have animals here in the city of Peoria, in the county of Peoria that need to have a place to go.

And so, as those animals get brought from another state, it's just crowding the shelters.

And again, this isn't gonna sound wonderful, because I don't wanna say those animals don't deserve a place to be, but it's tough for me when I look around our local community, and I see the great need for, you know, animals that are neglected, or abused, or, you know, out on the streets.

I want them to be the first ones to be brought into a shelter here, and our Peoria shelter isn't participating in taking animals out of the state, but many places do.

And so, then when the Peoria shelter has too many dogs and cats and they wanna transfer, or they wanna, you know, foster at another location, that location could be full.

So I think it just poses that question about what are we doing, and, you know, how are we helping our local animals?

And, you know, I think we are local-based in a lot of things that we talk about.

And so, I feel it's important for people to understand that.

- Well, we must be doing something right locally if other places are sending their animals here, I guess.

- Right- - That's one way of looking at it.

- That's true.

- Tell us a little bit about the types of animals that you see being adopted.

I mean, there was always, I don't know if this is a stereotype, or if it's real, like people don't want larger dogs, people don't want black dogs, or black cats for whatever reason.

Do you see things like that?

Do you see trends of animals that maybe have a hard time finding a home?

- I think some of those things could be a little bit true, but I feel like it, you know, it's a topic that comes up around Halloween.

People say, you know, "Don't adopt out black cats," or, you know, there's some stereotypes out there that aren't necessarily true for our area.

But having said that, I think that in general, people look at size, they look at breed, they look at temperament.

They look at a lot of things that can deter them from adopting, and let's face it, a large, you know, overactive dog is gonna be a little harder to place.

At our shelter here in Peoria, they get a large number of pit bulls and pit bull mixes, and, you know, the bully breeds, that sort of thing.

Nothing wrong with those dogs.

There's just many of them, and not everybody wants to adopt a dog of that breed.

And again, we've tried to work hard at saying, "Pit bulls are great dogs, "and our Peoria shelter adopts many of them, "and you know, they're not always aggressive," but there is that stereotype out there.

And, you know, when you look around and you see, you know, mostly a certain breed of a dog, whatever that is, it kind of can get, you know, it's a novel thing, and people are like, "Oh, that's all they've got."

But I wanna say the Peoria shelter has a large variety of dogs.

They really do, and I'm happy with the selection that they provide.

But the reality is that we have many pit bulls reproducing.

We have, you know, those are the dogs that live in the neighborhoods that generally aren't spaying and neutering.

So anytime you have more of a certain breed, there's gonna be a surplus at the shelter, and that's true for any dog breed that's been trendy over the years.

- Sure.

What else though haven't we talked about that you would like folks to know about the Humane Society and PCAPS and what's going on with animals and adoptions in our area?

- I think it's important for people to realize that the organizations here locally and across the country are doing the best they can to take in a large number of animals.

And so, you know, this term of, you know, kill, no kill, that gets thrown around a lot, and I think sometimes those words can be inflammatory and hurtful for places that are open door, open admission facilities, like our Peoria shelter.

So anytime you're taking in everything and you're not turning anything away, your numbers are always gonna be higher.

And so, if you have limited admission, you know, you're basically saying, "If we're full right now, "we're not taking any more in."

So the reality is where are those animals gonna go?

They're gonna go out in the street.

They're gonna maybe be given away, and have something terrible happen.

Maybe they're gonna get into a good home, but maybe they're gonna just end up, you know, going to an animal shelter that says, "Yes, we'll take them," and then those numbers go up.

So the reality is as the numbers, the intake numbers are up, euthanasia is also up.

It just has to be, you know?

Even at like our Peoria shelter, they're doing a great job of adopting.

They have, you know, many programs where they do transfer to other facilities.

But the reality is you can only do that so much when you have, you know, over 5,000 animals coming in every year, you know, or 8,000, or whatever the numbers would be for your facility.

And so, I want people to understand that, you know, that there's, it's a complicated issue, and there's much to think about.

But as a community, if we all take steps to work together, I feel like we can solve those problems to a degree.

Again, I think there's always gonna be too many animals.

We have people that are just still gonna be irresponsible.

We have people that are gonna give their animals up.

We have people that aren't gonna spay and neuter.

So those issues aren't gonna go away, but we're doing a better job than we did, you know, 30 years ago.

And so, I feel hopeful that we just need to keep moving in that direction.

- You know, even looking on social media, there's a lot of breeders out there.

How do you, you know, if you could find someone who wants an animal, how do you convince them that a shelter animal is just as good, or better than one they might get from a breeder?

- Oh my gosh, well, you know, 30 years into this, I'm gonna say, "Are you kidding me?

"The shelter has so many amazing animals," and literally purebred, you know, to mixed breed, and I used to know the statistics.

Oh gosh, I think we used to be able to claim more than 30% of the animals were purebred when it came to dogs.

Now, cats, that number's lower, but you can literally see everything at a shelter, and, or, you know, sometimes there's a rescue, or foster-based program, you know?

Check those out first.

There are some good, reputable breeders out there.

There are people who have a litter once every, you know, two, or three years.

They, you know, place animals in responsible homes.

You know, there's steps that they take to make sure the animals are fine.

So not all breeders are bad, but when you have the backyard breeders, and these, you know, stores that are just literally sourcing their animals from puppy mills, that's a really horrible, horrific, cruel situation.

And so, you just don't always know where that animal's coming from, what its background is, and you're just, you're basically supporting these, you know, parent dogs to just be, you know, out there reproducing with very little vet care, and that sort of thing.

So to answer your question, what could I say?

Shelters have amazing animals.

And, you know, all you have to do is step inside the door of the Peoria shelter, or any shelter, look into the faces of the animals, and see the good that they have.

And, you know, they wanna be loved like all the other animals, and I just, you know, my heart's in this, of course, all these years later, but, you know, animal shelters are the first place that you look, and just find that dog, or cat that's perfect for you.

I'm promising that that will happen if you just get in there and you meet 'em, and you know what they're up against.

- And know what you're gonna be up against, you know?

Again, you said- - Right.

- Figure the animal's gonna live 16, 18 years, and do the finances, and all that stuff before you make that big commitment.

All right, Kitty Yanko with the Peoria Humane Society.

Thanks for coming in.

- Thanks for having me.

- Appreciate it.

- Yup.

- And our Phil Luciano joins us now, and boy, we've both got kids.

We know what kind of a responsibility that is, but having a pet is just as big of a responsibility.

- But you're doing more than your share of helping out with these pets.

I've had pets, I don't have any now, but you've got like a zoo, right?

- I've got four shelter pets, yeah, so- - And a fish?

- Depending on, when is this airing?

- They're- - I hope they're still alive!

- Is it one of those carnival fish?

Throw the ping pong ball in and- - Yeah, they, that's a whole nother story.

But anyway, what do we got coming up on "You Gotta See This"?

- Well, you've got a story that's really interesting.

I didn't know anything about this 'til you brought this into our whole ken, into our whole knowledge.

- Yeah, very unique museum, one of a kind in the state of Illinois, and it's right here in Central Illinois.

We'll take you there.

- And also we will tell the story, it's Memorial Day weekend coming up, and this is a tale about an heroic soldier, and what he did, and might be a sailor, oops.

I don't wanna mess that up.

- You don't wanna mess it up.

- But he is, what he did at Pearl Harbor and then how he served his country afterward for years and years and years and decades, tremendous story.

You probably have never heard it.

- Very good, well, we look forward to hearing it.

We thank you for your time.

"You Gotta See This" is coming up in just a minute.

Be sure to go to wtvp.org, and check us out on Facebook and Instagram.

Have a good night.

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