Central Iowa Times

As more Iowa citizens spend increased time at home, they are welcoming shelter pets into their families.

Central Iowa shelters reported that more adoptions have taken place since mid-March, when the shelter-in-place order began.

Adam Bohn, sophomore at Iowa State University, is a new pet parent. He adopted a one-and-a-half-year-old gray domestic shorthair cat named Sebastian.

Finding himself with a lot more alone time than usual, he took the leap and adopted a pet.

“I have an internship here and that has me working from home all the time and it just worked out really well that this is the perfect time to adopt," he said, according to the Des Moines Register. "I can spend long periods of time at home with the cat and if you’re stuck in there anyway you might as well have some company."

Amy Heinz, chief executive officer of rescue group AHeinz57, said that applications to foster increased by 70% and adoptions increased by 50%.

Social distancing guidelines mandate one person per family visit the shelter at a time. When the shelter needed temporary homes for 80 cats, they received 160 applications. Even so, the shelters are seeing themselves in the situation where they are needing pets to fill the growing demand by families stepping up to take them home.

Even pet foster applications are exceeding the need. 

"We do have an increase in animals who have been sent to foster," Stephanie Filer, director of development and communications for the Animal Rescue League, said. "We’re trying to balance right now in making sure animals that are available for adoption can be here while also balancing the need for animals that aren’t yet ready to go into homes while they are waiting for that time."

Filer said adoptions are made by appointment only. The shelter is seeing more than 100 visitors on the weekend.

"The volume of people interested in adopting is outpacing our ability to provide more animals, which is great — it’s the problem we’ve always wanted," Filer said, according to Des Moines Register. "It’s the silver lining in all of this craziness and all of the ways our business has been impacted negatively this has been the positive part by far."

To learn more about the Animal Rescue League, visit their site at arl-iowa.org.