TRENTON — On any given day, the Trenton Animal Shelter is in “crisis management mode.”
Within a couple hours, workers helped save a dog struck on a busy highway and rushed into emergency surgery, took custody of a surrendered 12-year-old poodle, matted and suffering from a severe flea infestation, and discovered a nursing female dog wandering the streets of the capital city, said Danielle Gletow of Trenton Animals Rock, the nonprofit that manages the no-kill shelter.
“And that’s on top of all of the dogs that have been there for several weeks,” she told The Trentonian in a phone interview Wednesday. “It’s crisis mode 24/7.”
The global health crisis compounded the overcrowding problem for Trenton’s shelter, which has only a combined 40 cages, reserved for cats and dogs.
Gletow said the shelter has been at or near capacity for months, as people who adopted animals for companionship during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic surrender those pets in droves, unable to afford care for the animals after losing jobs or too busy after returning to the office following a year of remote work.
Council is considering a temporary fix — setting up a pair of overflow trailers near shelter headquarters — Thursday that will alleviate the strain on Trenton’s overworked shelter employees, who operate in close quarters inside the compact facility.
Mayor Reed Gusciora’s administration has proposed allocating $200,000 in American Rescue Plan funds to outfit the trailers with plumbing and electricity.
If council approves the funding, Gletow hopes to the trailers up and running before winter hits.
They’ll be used as office space for staff and for meet-and-greets with families looking to adopt an animal, along with separate intake and isolation areas for sickened animals to recover.
Gletow said most city legislators don’t understand the constraints at the Trenton Animals Shelter.
Gusciora said the the city eventually would like to secure funding to construct a new facility to replace the current “overwhelmed” digs.
For now, the trailers are a Band-Aid solution to a growing problem.
“Come spend four hours here. Listen to how often the phone rings,” Gletow said. “It is literally like sitting in a dispatch room. Then you tell me you think this isn’t an emergency. I’m just blown away that [the funding] hasn’t been approved yet.”
Some legislators raised concerns about using coronavirus funds to set up the trailers, but the Gusciora administration said it’s a permitted expense.
The money is supposed to be used broadly to make improvements and invest in infrastructure and initiatives impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It’s just a bad situation. These trailers would make it better,” said Mike Ranallo, a Trenton Animals Rock board member and 2022 at-large council candidate.
He urged legislators Tuesday to vote for the funding.
Gletow said she didn’t want to imagine a scenario under which council votes down the allocation, but she’s aware of the current state of Trenton politics. She’s hoping for the best and preparing for the worst.
“I hope it’s not just some political nonsense,” Gletow said. “No one involved in the day-to-day is on anybody’s quote-unquote side. This is about doing what’s right for the animals.
“We’re going to be pissed [if it doesn’t pass], but we’re going to keep showing up,” she added. “We’re not going to give up, and we’re going to continue to make noise. We have to make sure we’re raising our voices because these animals cannot speak for themselves.”