As the temperatures began to drop on Tuesday, Amelia Tanner got a call from her husband Dale Tanner. A cry for help had popped up in his Facebook feed from Alachua County Animal Resources. Foster homes were needed, urgently.
The freezing night ahead would be a distressing situation for animals at local shelters. Amelia Tanner adopted her own dog from the same shelter and knew the conditions well. She and her husband took Romeo, a terrier mix, home as a foster that evening.
Working alongside a staff of fellow animal lovers at Gainesville Kitchen and Bath, Amelia Tanner said that inquiries about Romeo immediately flooded in the next morning. Her co-worker Kimberlyn Snyder had been looking for a dog of her own. She even bought dog bowls in preparation for when the time was right. Dale Tanner brought the dog for a visit to the office that afternoon, and Snyder said it was love at first sight. Adoption papers were signed Wednesday evening and approved the next morning.
“I'm so grateful,” said Amelia Tanner, “The thought of having to bring him back to the pound, I don't know that we would have, honestly. We're glad we don't have to think about it, and I know Kimberlyn is going to take such good care of him.”
The need for foster homes is great, especially when weather conditions change. At Williston Animal Group, a series of unfortunate events left the team scrambling to keep the animals warm. The metal buildings where the dogs stay have insulated ceilings but not walls, meaning temperatures drop quickly in the kennels. On Tuesday night, as the winter storm moved its way toward Williston, one of the heaters broke in the building. Carol Tchebanoff, the president of Williston Animal Group, said she bundled the dogs in jackets and blankets and got heat lamps to attempt to warm the area.
“It was not nearly enough heat,” Tchebanoff said. “I ordered a new heater. It won't be here until Friday, and it can't be installed until Saturday.
Despite pleas to the community for aid during the cold nights, no dogs were fostered for the week. Tchebanoff brought home Pumpkin, who is battling breast cancer, for the cold nights, ensuring no animals with medical conditions were left at the shelter.
With smaller shelters, large influxes of animals often overwhelm the facilities. Between Monday and Wednesday, Bradford County Animal Services received around 15 dogs. The facility only has 22 kennels in total, and Megan Brown, a volunteer at the shelter, estimated there were ten dogs already at the facility.
“It’s a numbers game,” said Brown. “It's really, really overwhelming, because the volume of dogs that come through that shelter is absolutely insane.”
Only four dogs were put into foster homes in time for the winter storm late Tuesday night, and eight were transported to various boarding facilities. Brown said that although the community’s support is strong, it is difficult to find foster homes willing to keep the animal until it is adopted. The animals have only thirty days at the shelter until euthanasia occurs, leaving the fate of their futures in the community’s hands.
For the Humane Society of North Central Florida, severe changes in the weather lead to the arrival of animals from underfunded animal services shelters in neighboring counties. Currently, the Humane Society has 196 animals in their care with around 40 dogs on sight. The shelter received 20 dogs – 17 from Dixie County and three from Chiefland – on Tuesday alone.
Franziska Raeber, the director of development at the Humane Society of North Central Florida, said that their facility often takes in animals in need of medical care when county animal services shelters reach capacity. Although their recently renovated roofs provide safe shelter for the dogs, the cold is still not ideal for them. The shelter has two indoor areas, typically reserved for dogs that require medical care, and an open adoption area in a metal building that is more susceptible to the climate. Empty indoor kennels were filled from the adoption area to provide warm shelter to as many dogs as possible throughout the week as space became available. This week, 17 dogs went to foster homes to escape the cold winter nights. Raeber estimated that urgent requests for help typically lead to around two or three adoptions, however most fosters are sent back to the shelter.
Limited space, resources and funds constrain the extent shelters can help without community aid. Volunteers, like Amber Craft for Bradford County Animal Services, continue to help alleviate the shelters’ stresses. Craft brought in seven chihuahuas this week and regularly fosters animals year-round. Her passion for fostering inspired a series of mystery novels, “Bradford County Animal Shelter Mini Series,” in which the protagonist solves cases with the help of fostered dogs.
“I want to bring more adoption and foster awareness for the local shelter here by just using the skills I have,” said Craft.
Copyright 2025 WUFT 89.1
