ENID — Enid’s animal control facility picks up or receives hundreds of animals each year, but only a fraction are claimed or adopted.

Enid Police Chief Brian O’Rourke said the facility’s five-person staff is being inundated with calls of strays and pet owners no longer able to care for their animals — and with spring on the way, the problem will only get worse.

Last year, 1,786 dogs were either picked up by animal control officers or surrendered by their owners, and 545 were claimed by their owners or adopted. One thousand cats also were picked up or surrendered by their owners last year; of those, 48 were adopted or claimed.

In the past month, 51 dogs were impounded. Eleven of those were adopted and nine were claimed by their owners. The remaining dogs were euthanized. Also in January, animal control officers picked up 78 dead dogs.

“With five guys doing animal control for a town this size, and the volume they’re handling, it’s just incredible to me,” O’Rourke said.

Allen Elder, animal control supervisor, said calls for animal control officers are up.

“We’re probably doing 25 to 30 calls some days,” Elder said. “They just keep coming in. We stay busy enough. We don’t even get time to patrol like we used to.”

O’Rourke said oftentimes, there are calls waiting for animal control officers when they begin in their shifts in the morning.

Elder and O’Rourke said everything that can be done to get animals adopted, or claimed is being done.

Animals coming into the shelter are posted online at the city of Enid’s website, www.enid.org. The site gives owners of the pets a chance to claim them.

“We started doing that to try and enhance adoptions and reunite owners with their pets,” O’Rourke said.

By city ordinance, all animals coming into the facility are held for five days to allow owners to claim them. After the five days, animals are held for two additional “adoption days.”

In recent months, Elder and O’Rourke have gotten some help in getting animals homes before their adoption days are up. He said he does everything possible to reunite a picked-up animal with its owner.

“We scan every animal that comes through the door for a chip,” he said. “Sometimes they have chips, but it’s not registered.”

Several months ago, Rachel Hancock’s cat went missing. She said she looked extensively for him and contacted the animal control facility several times to see if he’d been picked up.

“I went in and he wasn’t there,” she said. “I adopted a kitten and puppy from the shelter.”

Six weeks later, her cat returned, but Hancock saw an opportunity to help the shelter get more pets adopted.

She started a Facebook page, Adopt-a-Pet (Enid Animal Shelter), and has gained more than 4,000 followers.

“I know people can kind of make a connection with the animal by seeing them and being able to make connections,” she said. “I don’t think people understand you can go into the shelter and adopt really nice dogs.”

Hancock said Enid’s facility isn’t what people would normally expect. She said the five animal control officers work hard to keep the facility and care for all the animals.

“People need to go in and see how it’s run,” she said. “The guys keep it up really well.”

O’Rourke said since Hancock began the Facebook page, adoptions at the shelter have increased 10 to 20 percent.

“A lady drove from Chicago to the shelter to adopt a dog before it was put down,” Hancock said. “I’ve had a lady come Stillwater, one from Alva and one from Cherokee.”

“We’re reaching a lot more people in a wider area,” O’Rourke said.

Despite all efforts, hundreds of animals must be destroyed.

“They don’t like doing it, just has to be done,” Elder said. “We try our best. We enjoy adopting out animals.”

“It is cheaper for us to adopt a dog out than have to euthanize it,” O’Rourke said. “The facility we have should be large enough for a town our size.”

Hancock agrees: “It’s not that there isn’t adequate space — there’s too many stray dogs.”

The facility has 34 pens for dogs, which can be doubled or tripled, and 25 pens for cats. There also are five isolation pens. Information cards are going to be put out on each pen, with the date the animal was brought in, the address of the area they came from, sex, age, breed and available adoption day.

The problem is one of numbers.

Elder said many pets get surrendered because their owners can no long afford to take care of them.

“We don’t have an animal problem. We have an irresponsible owner problem,” Elder said. “People just don’t know the laws, they don’t want to know the laws.”

“Obviously, mistakes happen,” O’Rourke said. “Dogs get out, cats get out and wander, but it does seems like we’re sort of overrun.”

When an animal reaches its adoption days, they can be taken from the shelter. Elder said there is a list of area veterinarians, and all people have to pay for is the cost of the animal’s rabies vaccination and to have them spayed or neutered.

“There are no adoption fees,” Elder said. “They pay us, and we will pay the vet back.”

City ordinance requires all owners to register their pets.

With proof of rabies shots and vaccines, owners will receive tag that can be renewed each year. If the animal has been spayed or neutered, the cost is $2. If not, the cost is $5.

First offense for not having the dog licensed is $140. The fine for a dog running loose is $249 for the first offense and $549 for second offense.

“It is an animal control facility,” O’Rourke said. “Bottom line is, we euthanize a lot of animals and we’re trying to lower that number by working with Rachel, the SPCA and anyone we can work with to have a dog or cat adopted by a responsible owner.”

Enid animal control facility, 1200 S. 10th, is open for adoptions 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and noon to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.