Humane Society, Mac's Mission struggle to house animals as need for foster homes grows

When the COVID-19 pandemic began last year, long-time Humane Society volunteer Ruth Powers didn't know what to do.

She usually spent hours at the shelter helping any scared dogs cope with life in the shelter. So, when the pandemic hit and the shelter closed its doors to the public, Powers took up fostering.

"I wanted to keep on doing something to help them, and it seemed like fostering would be the best thing," Powers said.

Powers wasn't the only person with that idea, according to Tracy Poston, director of the Humane Society of Southeast Missouri. Around March 2020, the shelter saw a large influx of foster families as animal lovers looked for pets to take care of as they sheltered from the pandemic at home.

Now, the situation has flipped.

"We're wishing we had probably double the foster families we have currently," Poston said.

Over at Mac's Mission, a special-needs animal rescue in Jackson, the need for foster homes is just as dire.

"It's like you can't get anyone to foster," Rochelle Steffen, founder of Mac's Mission said. "Once we hit 2021, it [fostering] has been pretty much nonexistent."

Steffen attributed the plunge in available foster parents to people spending less time at home as they've returned to work and school.

Mac's Mission caters to dogs (and other animals) with special needs, so finding people willing and qualified to take care of the shelter's animals is difficult, Steffen said.

On top of the lack of foster homes, both Steffen and Poston reported an increase of animals coming to their shelters -- so much so, Steffen said she worries she'll run out of space and have to stop taking new animals in.

Overpopulation of in-need pets is a community problem shelters can't solve on their own, according to Poston.

"We rely heavily on the community not only financially but to also physically get involved and foster," Poston said.

Jackson resident Courtney McQuade began fostering cats and dogs through the Humane Society two years ago. She recently took in a mother dog and her three puppies.

"It's such a joyful thing to do, watching them develop," McQuade said. "Their eyes open, and they learn how to walk and play and all those things."

McQuade began fostering to have something to do as her children grew older and went off to college. She said it typically isn't much of a time commitment and doesn't require a lot of money.

Both the Humane Society and Mac's Mission provide supplies and pay any expenses a foster pet may incur.

Sometimes, depending on the health of the pet, fostering can be difficult, according to Powers. Yet, she has found the benefits outweigh the costs.

"Every time one gets adopted, my heart just swells," Powers said.

To apply to foster an animal, visit www.macsmission.org or www.semopets.org.