MCCALL, Idaho — It's tough to find affordable housing in Valley County where planning and zoning officials are purchasing last and exploring options for future solutions. However, some residents who are already renting say landlords are changing their rental agreements— an unfortunate situation for fur babies.
"It's just heartbreaking," says MCPAWS Executive Director Cortney Bayuk, "And our hearts go out to people when they have to drop off their pets because they are, they're having to leave behind a member of their family, often through circumstances not of their own making."
Bayuk says they're seeing more surrenders due to rental agreements. It's common for landlords to outline weight limits or restrictions on the number of pets allowed in a property. As those leases expire, some Valley County landlords are lowering those limits leaving larger dogs looking for new homes.
"So we get the big dogs and across the nation, dogs are, big dogs specifically, have a long length of stay in shelters. But when you add on specific requirements from rentals, that increases the problem," adds Bayuk.
Eighty animals have been surrendered through September 2024, thirty-six due to housing issues, 55% more than in 2023.
Butch was adopted a few days after I visited MCPAWS after 70 days at the shelter. The average length of stay for an animal at MCPAWS is just over a month. That, itself, is a 73% increase from last year.
"Our epitome story of this that started this conversation in McCall with us was a dog named Dakota who was with us for seven-plus months. His owners had to surrender him because they lost their housing that allowed him. And he long-term stay with us. And in that time they were able to find another place to live that allowed dogs again. So they were actually able to come back and adopt him, which is not always the case. That was kind the pivotal moment of, or one of those really shining moments of positive result. But you know, not everybody gets that opportunity."
