HIAWATHA, Iowa (KCRG) – Area shelters are having to turn away cats and dogs because of how full they are.
It’s dinner time for the stray kittens that Laure Kottman and her friend are caring for in Hiawatha.
Right now, the kittens are living in a garage as the two look after them.
“My girlfriend, whose house we’re at, she’s been feeding the cats for a long time, over the winter, and then the kittens showed up,” Kottman said.
The mother cats have since moved on, so Kottman is hopeful the kittens can move on, too, to warm, loving homes.
“We’ve been in touch with rescues all over,” Kottman said.
Those rescues say they can’t help. Because right now, many cages are full.
“I don’t know what the answer is, we just keep hoping, keep our fingers crossed, hoping we’ll hear back from somebody, somebody will have space. That’s about our only option,” Kottman said.
One adoption facility she called: Last Hope Animal Rescue.
“Adoptions are down, that’s nationally, donations are down nationally,” said Sonia Brandley, the founder of Last Hope Animal Rescue.
They’re full too. Brandley says this year has been especially hard for the rescue all around.
“We have to turn animals away every day,” Sonia said. ”Our happy number is about 30 here at the adoption center, and I think we’re floating right around 40/42.”
For now, there just aren’t many options for kittens like these other than preventing them from being born.
“There’s organizations in town that will step in and help you trap a cat and then they trap, neuter, return, and that’s about what we have right now because there’s just no room in the shelters,” Brandley said.
For Kottman, she’s hopeful some rescue will have space to help the kittens sooner rather than later.
