Something potentially lost in the COVID-19 conversation is the impact on the animal population, both owned and stray. Spay and neuter surgeries that help control the animal population are backlogged at the York County SPCA for all animals, with the earliest available appointment you can book not being until early October, as of Monday.
"We had to close for two and a half months. That's two and a half months of appointments that we had to reschedule," Steven Martinez, Executive Director of the York County SPCA said. "We're going to be catching up on that for the remainder of the year."
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Visits are by appointment only at the SPCA with CDC protocols in place. You must wear a mask, abide by social distancing until further notice.
"We're going to be doing that for the remainder of the year or until a vaccine is created," Martinez said.
And while still catching up on lost time for all animals, both owned and stray, the SPCA doesn't yet know the full scope of the impact COVID-19 will have on the stray animal population.
"I think we'll have those answers probably next year," Martinez said.
But there's plenty of good news for the shelter. They hit a record low number of adoptable dogs back in June, and they continue to remain well-under capacity. And through donations from the community, they've established a dog and cat food pantry for those who cannot afford to feed their animals.
"Those programs only work because of the contributions of our community members," Martinez said.
The SPCA said if you can donate either financially or with goods, they're always in need of hand sanitizer, cat litter, food for the animals, paper towels, dish detergent and other cleaning supplies. But if you can't donate financially, you can donate your time. There are a variety of different roles volunteers can serve while socially distancing at the York County SPCA. For a full list and to fill out an application, as well as more overall information on the York County SPCA, you can visit their website.