El Paso Animal Services encourages fostering a pet during the holidays

EL PASO, Texas-- There's no place like home for the holidays. Right? Well, a few local shelter pets are hoping they can find a home for the holidays, even if it's just temporary.

Kennels within the El Paso Animal Services continue to fill up as the holidays approach and because of this the shelter is encouraging locals to open their doors for shelter pets this holiday season.

"They're filling up but we need the community to come in and help us out to see if they can offer these dogs a temporary home and help us open up another cage for anyone that is in need," said Valentin Garcia, Foster Program Coordinator at El Paso Animal Services.

Since the start of the pandemic, Animal Services has seen an influx of pets within the shelter.

"There's a lot more dogs and cats out there," said Garcia, "They're going to need our help sooner or later and we encourage to get the ones that we have right now and have them in a good place in a good setting at home."

The fostering program is free of charge. All items and materials a foster parent will need are provided by the shelter.

"We do help you with the food, with any other supplies you do need, pads and anything medical," said Garcia.

Those interested in fostering a shelter pet can start the process by filling out an adoption application at The Animal Services website.

"From there they can give us a call and we can review their applications to see if there's anything we can go over with the foster to see which animal best fits for that home," said Garcia.

Although the normal foster time is about two to four weeks, the shelter does not discourage when foster families request extensions or even when the foster process turns into more than just a temporary home.

"We call this a foster failure. They decide to adopt the animal and they fall in love with it so they keep them," said Garcia.

In the end, these shelter pets won't only be benefiting from the adoption process, their foster parents will also get a sense of comfort knowing their foster pet won't ever be alone, and neither will they.

"Right now we're isolating ourselves. Some of us don't have contact with anybody and the dog is always going be happy to see you every time you come home and play with them," said Garcia.