DANVILLE, Ill. (WCIA) — The Vermilion County Animal Shelter is experiencing a record number of surrenders this summer, and now it’s asking the community for fosters.

The shelter is in the middle of kitten season, meaning it has to take care of the many litters being born and the cats being surrendered for other reasons like financial problems.

“We have 166 cats and kittens in the building as of this morning,” Kate Suchodolski, shelter programs director, said. “We typically get about 10 intakes a day. Every kennel is full, every office is full with cats and kittens.”

The shelter said overcrowding stresses the animals out and since they’re an open intake shelter, they have to accept every animal surrendered; sometimes leading to difficult decisions.

“We are running out of space, so at some point we have to make tough decisions if we’re completely out of space and that does include euthanasia, so we’re trying as hard as we can to get them out before it reaches that point,” Suchodolski said.

The shelter is asking the community to foster animals for as long as they can to help avoid this problem. 

Dogs are available too. If you do not have space or time for a dog right now, sponsoring an adoption fee goes a long way.

To learn more about adopting with the Vermilion County Animal Shelter, visit their website or their Facebook page.