For the last year, there has been a crisis nationally for animal shelters due to various factors, including higher prices, the lack of spaying or neutering during COVID, and a surge of regretful adoption owners not wanting their dogs.
“It’s just been a terrible overpopulation problem,” said Great Lakes Humane Society nonprofi t director Linda Gottwald.
“People have just got to try spaying and neutering and stop breeding and I’m begging people, please don’t ever buy a dog online.”
The society’s home base is on M-72 just west of Bugai Road.
Gottwald said she has had customers fall for the oldest dog scam in the book by answering an advertisement online, most commonly with purebred animals. Prospective customers will send money online and then receive nothing in return.
“First of all, I don’t even like people to buy because there are so many dogs for adoption. The worst thing to do is to do it online. Say, ‘I’ll meet you somewhere.’ If you see a really bad shelter or possibly a puppy mill, you should report it,” Gottwald said. “I know people like purebreds, but it’s good to get a little mix because they’ve got that hybrid vigor, is what we call it.”
Gottwald said she has seen a market increase in spaying and neutering in the Traverse City area. She hopes that someday there will be a low-cost spay/ neuter establishment or grant money that the non-profit could pursue.
She said the local shelter still has “very good” adoption rate, but it’s still not enough to keep up with the intake.
“We always adopt out as many as we’re getting in,” she said.
Great Lakes Humane Society was founded in 2002 and moved to the Leelanau Peninsula in 2008, where Gottwald has been running the operation for 16years.
“We have the nicest people in the world in this community. We don’t get any funding from the government,” she said.
Nobody is on a payroll because they are all volunteers.
Great Lakes Humane Society survives on donations that include dog food, monetary, leashes, supplies, and more.
“Two reasons that we can keep doing this is because of wonderful volunteers and the terrific community,” Gottwald said.
Gary Lowe, a Good Harbor native, works with the dogs almost every day and keeps a little peanut butter on him at all times.
He mentors the needy dogs, including Hawthorne (pictured), who are looking for a new home at the shelter.
“Over half a million dogs are executed a year out of pounds, mainly. A million or so dogs that are in shelters probably 60% have behavioral problems,” Lowe said. “I like the dogs that have behavioral problems. Some of them come from terribly abused places … I do it because it’s really rewarding when you see that turn in dogs, and all of a sudden they go, hey, people are cool. They’re going to give me a treat or pet me or something like that. It’s amazing.”
