MONTOUR COUNTY, Pa. — Rebel has lived at the Pennsylvania SPCA near Danville for one year, which is half of his life. Rebel and his friends are waiting for their forever homes, but it's been a slow season at the shelter.
"It's honestly been a little bit challenging getting people out. Our animals are staying longer just because people aren't really adopting now," Kristin Szwast said.
Kristin Szwast is the director of the SPCA in Montour County. She says while adoptions are down, there is no shortage of animals.
"It just seems like as soon as we empty a kennel, we're filling it," Szwast said.
Szwast attributes this to the pandemic. In 2020 the world saw a high number of pet adoptions. That has slowed down.
"People are back to work; they're busy. The last couple of years, everyone could hibernate in their homes, but now everyone is out doing stuff," Szwast said.
Something else the Pennsylvania SPCA had to contend with was last weekend's frigid weather. Many of the residents here are farm animals.
Szwast says several animals were brought in over the weekend, too, including these goats. The shelter also dealt with frozen pipes and a broken washing machine. But something special happened Saturday.
"The best thing that happened ever was that one of our longer residents got adopted. So it was all worth it. There was happy tears by everyone when Nitro, a ten-year-old senior dog, got adopted on Christmas Eve," Szwast said.
Szwast deters people from buying animals as Christmas presents and recommends families come in together to pick out their forever friend.
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