Approximately 1.5 million shelter animals are euthanized every year nationwide. However, with the recent outbreak of COVID-19 in the U.S, huge changes are in the making for man’s best friend.

After adopting his shelter dog Shiloh in 2015, James Harbor, a local Plano resident, decided to start his very own rescue operation to help transport dogs out of kill shelters and into homes. Naming the organization Shiloh’s Road to Hope, he and his team have saved the lives of more than 3,000 dogs over the course of the operation’s existence. 

“Well, I was asked to foster Shiloh from a group outside of Illinois,” Harbor said. “Once I got her, she was so terrified of everything, and I couldn’t stand the thought of sending her out with a transport. That got me to realizing I didn’t know then that rescues out-of-state pulled dogs from shelters in Texas. Once I figured that out, I got together with some people and we decided if we could do that without charging the shelters, to save them money so that they could save more dogs. And, so far it’s worked, we are able to rely solely on donations.”

Many shelters and organizations, including Shiloh’s Road to Hope, have been working tirelessly to house the animals who have had trouble finding homes since the coronavirus outbreak. So far, operations have gone successful, with community members offering to foster these furry friends in a time of need. 

“Fortunately people on the news have really pushed fostering and have brought it to the public’s attention,” Harbor said. “People have been stepping up to take care of the animals in their area which is a big help to us.”

Still, this doesn’t mean all of their problems are solved. 

“This can become an issue though when you look at it long term,” Harbor said. “We really don’t know how long people will be willing to foster. It could only be a few weeks. Then the shelters become over crowded and they have to put animals down. And a lot of these shelters are now closed to the public. That makes it hard on us because we have nowhere to go. Plus because of the economic uncertainty and issues with people losing their jobs right now, we have stopped receiving regular donations. I just hope that we can hang on until we get through this so we can get back up.”

Executive Director of the South Wood County Humane Society in Wisconsin, Beth Peabody, also believes adjusting to these new changes may create some problems in the long run. 

“Now I have to protect the shelter for the future,” Peabody said. “Without adoptions, donations and fundraising events, the shelter is not bringing in the funds to support the everyday costs. I have had to cut employee hours and financial decisions that were easy to make prior to COVID-19 are now difficult ones. Making sure that I keep all the animals, staff, volunteers and community safe from a virus that we can’t see is much more stressful than keeping everyone safe from an animal that we can see.”

Despite this, Peabody insists that having a community to surround herself with is more vital now than ever.

“It’s simple,” she said. “Letting the community members know that the animals are safe and that the shelter is still working to provide an environment for unwanted animals is important. Without our community’s support, we can’t survive.”