Despite being forced to adapt to the COVID-19 pandemic, local animal shelter Auburn Valley Humane Society says it’s busier today than ever before.

The shelter’s president and CEO Phil Morgan said that while significant changes have had to be made, AVHS was still able to ramp up its operations in 2020. 

“We really pivoted, I wouldn’t say we cut back,” Morgan said. “We’re still helping probably the same number if not more people, we’re just not doing it hands-on with the animals right now.” 

Morgan said AVHS’ pivot has been key to its success during the pandemic. After Governor Jay Inslee issued the first stay-at-home order in March of last year, it quickly became clear that the shelter would have to make changes.

“We had to stay open, because we’re an essential service for animal control housing and licensing — that’s part of our contract we have with the city [of Auburn],” he said. “So, we fell back to the minimum of our contract.”

Working hours were cut down, all surgeries had to be suspended, and most of the shelter’s animals were put into the foster care system. 

When pandemic restrictions were eased on June 1, the shelter was able to slowly start resuming some operations. But they still had to grapple with the absence of the volunteer force AVHS has depended on for years. 

“We have a one-volunteer limit coming into the building,” Morgan said. “It’s pretty much essential staff doing essential duties — staff is having to walk dogs, which lowers our number of animals in the building, because we don’t have the capacity to care for them at the level we want.” 

Morgan said AVHS typically logs around 30,000 volunteer hours in a year. In 2020, that number was more than halved, dropping to under 14,000. 

Without the majority of its volunteers, the shelter’s focus has had to shift in order to adapt to conditions presented by the pandemic. 

“We had to pivot from doing intake and adoptions to doing surgeries and more public service stuff that can be done either from behind a desk, or from a home office,” Morgan said. “The key to success in this pandemic is to pivot.” 

But even facing challenges, AVHS was able to report over 1,000 animals adopted in 2020, down from just below 1,800 the previous year and in addition to its increased community operations.

Auburn and other shelters’ shift away from adoptions, however, has come in contrast to the notable increase in demand for pet adoptions that the pandemic has brought on. 

“Right after the pandemic started, there were a lot of people wanting dogs, it was like a fast and furious debacle,” Morgan said. 

Even though interest in animal adoptions has remained high, Morgan said, there’s little shelters can do to provide for the demand.

“It’s not our job to go to a warehouse and fill up with animals. We have to pivot to what the needs are, really, more than what people’s wants are,” he said. “Because we don’t have the volunteers to do walks and take care of animals, we have less animals, and that means our adoption numbers are down.” 

While Morgan said he understands the desire for the comfort that pets can bring during such stressful times, he said he’s beginning to notice a regrettable trend in where some of those pandemic adoptions may be ending up. 

“We’re seeing a lot of nine-to-12-month-old puppies start to hit,” Morgan said. “People that got animals as puppies nine months ago are now back to work, haven’t spent enough time with them,  and they don’t want them anymore, so they’re calling to see if they can place them with us.” 

For more information about the shelter, visit https://www.auburnvalleyhs.org/