'The pleas for help are never ending': Faithful Friends animal shelter hits max capacity

VIEW ORIGINAL ARTICLE >

Delaware Online
By: Molly McVety
Published: Nov 10, 2023

New Castle-area animal welfare organization and no-kill shelter Faithful Friends Animal Society has officially reached maximum capacity amid a trend of lower foster and adoption numbers.

The announcement was made Oct. 3 via a Facebook post, exactly three months after the group moved to their upgraded facility at 165 Airport Road near New Castle.

“The pleas for help are never ending,” the Facebook post said. “Our team is working so hard to continue saving lives.”

A maximum of 65 dogs and 200 cats are held at the New Castle-area facility, but this number represents only half of the animals that are in the group’s care through its foster network.

Shelters ‘in crisis’ nationwide

Since the start of this year, Faithful Friends has taken in around 1,300 animals. This intake rate is lower than this time last year, partially because animals are staying in the shelters for longer and not getting adopted.

According to Kayla Mullen, marketing manager for Faithful Friends Animal Society, puppies and kittens that would usually be adopted in a matter of days are now staying in the shelter for an average of 75 to 100 days.

“We’ve been teetering on that maximum capacity for the past couple of weeks,” Mullen said. “But we can only save so many animals.”

With less than two months left in 2023, so far 984 dogs and cats have been adopted this year. Last year 1,592 animals found new homes.

It’s not just Faithful Friends that is struggling. Shelters around the country are facing similar issues of higher intake numbers and lower adoption rates.

Shelter Animals Count, a national database tracking animal rescue and shelter trends, found in its most recent data analysis that animal shelters are “in crisis” nationwide. This year will mark the third consecutive year when shelters report having too many animals and not enough adoptions – especially among dogs.

How to help

With a full house, the shelter is hoping the upcoming holiday season will bring about more adoptions and foster families to the facility.

The group is in need of more community members to step up as foster or adoptive parents to the animals. Faithful Friends covers the expenses for necessities like food and medicine for families who choose to foster an animal.

Applications to  or  pets can be found at the links here. The shelter is open Tuesdays through Fridays from noon until 7 p.m. and Saturdays from noon until 5 p.m.

Faithful Friends is also seeking donations, especially of hard toys and training treats. Their wish lists can be found on Amazon and.

Between now and February the shelter will also be matching any donations up to $325,000. Donations can be made online; by phone at 302-427-8514, ext. 110; or by mailing a check.

There are other ways to get involved with Faithful Friends. They host community house building days, where people can come and build houses for feral cats around the state to use during the cold winter months. The next cat house building day will be Nov. 18 from 1-3 p.m. Sign up here.

An “empty the shelter” event will take place between Dec. 1-8, when there will be discounted rates on all animals. Faithful Friends will also be participating in Brandywine Valley SPCA’s adoption weekend Dec. 9 and 10.