ACCT Philly needs to place more dogs as it tries to contain canine flu outbreak

This story originally appeared on 6abc.

ACCT Philly is still desperately trying to find homes for dogs who need to leave the shelter by this Monday.

The non-profit says dozens of dogs have caught the canine flu and while it works to isolate and care for those animals, its trying to place healthy animals to keep them safe.

In the last week, officials say the shelter has been able to place dozens of dogs, however, it still has more animals coming in.

“Our officers are picking up two dogs, we have two more going in right now so that’s already four and we just opened,” said Sarah Barnett, the shelter’s executive director.

Each week, ACCT philly gets an average 100 dogs coming in, but with the virus spreading, those dogs are at risk of catching canine flu.

“It can be contagious for up to 21 days and that’s really the problem in a facility that has multiple dogs. The dog might be better after the first week, if it has a mild case, but the problem is it’s spreading it to the other dogs,” said Barnett.

To combat that, the facility has set up this temporary home lined with tarps and kennels where starting Monday, the sick dogs will go to recover while the rest of the shelter is deep cleaned.

It can house 50 dogs in that space.

“We’ll have to see what today brings with regards to numbers. If we stay on the low end of our average intake, we’ll be OK and not be above 50 dogs, but our average is between 15-25 so if we get on that high end we’ll be a little above 50,” said Barnett.

While the sick dogs recover in that space, the usual kennels and offices will be sanitized.

“We have a company coming in the evening, they’re going to be sanitizing the air. Part of the issue that we have in this building is our HVAC doesn’t circulate properly so we’re working on doing improvements on that as well as other things in the building,” said Barnett.

The shelter will be closed Monday and Tuesday to the public for that deep cleaning.

ACCT Philly says there are three ways the public can help during this crisis. More fosters and adopters are still needed, and shelter is also taking donations. It needs to pay for medical supplies for the sick dogs and equipment for the deep cleaning.

To help, visit the ACCT Philly website.