LANSING — Animal shelters in Michigan are at capacity, even while facing staff and resource shortages.

According to experts, more animals are being abandoned and too few pet owners are having their animals spayed or neutered.

In 2020, adoption rates soared due to pandemic-related stay-at-home orders across the country, according to an article in the journal Frontiers in Veterinary Medicine.

A study by the American Humane Association found a dramatic increase in the rate at which previously adopted animals are being returned.

Shelter directors in Michigan say that results in long waiting lists for kennel space and more abandoned animals, with the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic making the situation worse.

Carly Quinn is the director of animal care and control at the Ionia County Animal Shelter. She has been there for seven years.

“This is one of the worst times in animal shelter history,” she said. “For the first time since I’ve been here, we have had to have a waiting list to surrender your pet, especially dogs.”.

Her shelter is also seeing a high number of stray dogs whose owners refuse to claim them. “I’ve never seen fewer people coming to get their dog,” she said.

Much of the problem is due to the pandemic, she said.

“A lot of people got dogs during Covid because they were isolated at home. We were pretty much empty at that time. Now we are seeing 2-, 3-, and 4-year-old dogs that didn’t get fixed and weren’t socialized because everything was shut down,” Quinn said.

People bought pets on impulse and now have to go back to work. “So they have to leave these dogs at home, and now they are having behavioral issues that people weren’t prepared for,” she said.

Her staff is also seeing a high number of puppies being dropped off, she said. “Certain individuals were selling puppies for a livelihood, but now people aren’t buying them anymore. The puppy market has crashed, so now they are surrendering full litters to us.”