14 NYC Rescue Dogs Coming To Salem Shelter For Adoption This Weekend

SALEM, MA — While the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and Northeast Animal Shelter of Salem have often brought in dogs from the deep South for adoption in New England because of shelter overcrowding in that area of the country in recent years, this weekend the organizations are helping alleviate an overcapacity crisis right in New York City.

The MSPCA is taking in 14 dogs from Animal Care Centers of NYC as several shelters in New York face trying to care for double the number of dogs in their care than they have the capacity to house.

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"People in the Northeast often think that the national dog population crisis is something that only Southern and warm-weather states are dealing with," said Mike Keiley, MSPCA-Angell vice president of animal protection. "But that's not true, and no one knows that more than NYACC.

"Right now, they've got more than 300 dogs in care when they really only have capacity for 180. Dogs are doubled up in kennels. They're also using pop-up crates in offices and hallways to expand capacity. So when the opportunity to help them arose, we knew we needed to jump on it immediately."

Keiley said the overcrowding is an indication that the homeless pet crisis is nationwide and not an indictment on the shelters themselves.

"This wildly incorrect viewpoint that shelters are somehow at fault when really they're doing everything in their power to help solve this issue in their communities," Kieley said. "And so are we, which is why we knew we needed to make this transport happen."

The NYC dogs are set to arrive in Salem on Saturday and then should be available for adoption early next week as part of the latest MSPCA fee-waived adoption event for dogs ages 6 months and older. This event is called "Run, Walk, Dog!" in honor of the Boston Marathon season and is part of an attempt on behalf of the shelters to make adopting a dog in need of a forever home less cost-prohibitive.

"A key piece in the fight against this crisis is eliminating barriers to adoption," Keiley said. "And cost is definitely a barrier for many.

"We're really hoping that people in the community hear our need and come out to adopt, because the more dogs we're able to rehome, the more we'll be able to help in the future."

The MSPCA and Northeast Animal Shelter hope to adopt out more than 100 dogs during the week-long event starting on Tuesday.

More information on the adoptathon may be found here.

See Also:

• Adopters Sought For 160+ Farm Animals Seized From MA Home

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. X/Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)