WATCH: The Victoria Humane Society is at capacity and in dire need of foster homes after receiving more animals in the last two months than they usually get in an entire year. As Luisa Alvarez tells us most of the animals are kittens in need of attention, love and care.
Kittens are everywhere at Penny Stone’s home.
Stone is the executive director for the Victoria Humane Society and has had to deal with a huge influx of animals in recent months.
“We are really maxed out. We took 55 kittens last week and probably 76 four or five days prior to that so it has been crazy and we get calls every day,” said Stone.
Each day calls come in from people wanting to surrender animals.
Already the society, which is foster based, has doubled the number of animals they took in compared to last year.
“We’ve maxed out our foster homes, we’ve maxed out everybody all my friends will no longer take my calls because there are so many animals needing foster homes,” Stone said.
“Last weekend I was in tears the whole time trying to figure out where they will go because you don’t want to have too many kittens in one place.”
At the moment the society has 55 foster homes on their roster but need a lot more, and soon, to keep up with demand while still making sure the society can match the animal with the right home.
It all depends on the animal and its needs and it could stay with the foster home for a couple of weeks or up to several months.
The screening process is important since many are rescues.
“If they are coming into rescue they have already been through a huge upheaval in their lives, have already been stressed out tons, they’ve already gone through trauma a lot of them. So we need them to come into foster as quietly, as calmly, as easily as possible,” Stone said.
Stone adds, being a foster home isn’t just cuddling the furry little kittens.
There is a lot of work that goes into it and anyone applying needs to be fully aware of what they are signing up for.
“It’s a lot of cleaning, a lot of you know constantly being home to socialize with them and stuff and it is a lot of work. But its so worth it. What you get back in return, I mean how many times in your life can you say ‘I get to save a life today’ and you get to say that,” Stone said.
The society provides everything needed to foster from the food to the litter, toys, and pays for all the medical expenses.
Stone says the more foster homes there are the more animals they can save.
Right now around 60 kittens are in need of a foster home.
“When you say ‘yes I’ll foster for you’, that means we bring in another animal that we normally wouldn’t be able to bring in that we can save another life,” Stone said.
Many of the kittens brought in from the interior are sick and their care has been costly.
“Whole litters that have really drained our finances because of course we go to the ends of the earth for them but we need to financially do that,” Stone said.
On top of foster homes, they are also in need of donations.
If you are interested to donate or apply to foster, you can go on their website.
Luisa Alvarez
