SAN DIEGO — The San Diego Humane Society is overwhelmed after seeing a flood of strays come in during the holiday weekend. The shelter was already over capacity before it took in more than 75 strays since New Year's Eve.
"This is unprecedented in the timing and especially the volume," said Nina Thompson, the shelter's public relations director.
The shelter has space for 351 dogs but currently has 547. Thompson said it's not uncommon to see some strays coming in after New Years who may have ran because of fireworks but nothing like this. The summer is typically their busy season but right now two dogs are coming in for every one dog going out being adopted.
"We don't exactly know the cause of why we're seeing so many stray pets we can speculate it's related to the economy and it's also harder to move when you have big pets," she said.
If you find a stray, the shelter is asking you to try getting them back to their owner on your own. Often times lost pets aren't far from home. It's recommended to post photos on Facebook groups or Nextdoor to reunite them with their families. Once they're taken to the shelter, they're only held so long before they can become adoptable.
"The legal period for us to hold a stray pet that doesn't have identification like a microchip or collar with a phone number is 72 hours," she said.
Thompson said if they find pets with chips or tags, they try to hold them longer in the hopes their owner will come by and find them.
Find the San Diego Humane Society's lost and found page, here. Information for adopting, here or fostering, found here.
WATCH: San Diego Humane Society dealing with 'unprecedented' number of dogs in shelters