INGHAM COUNTY - After experiencing a spike in population of adoptable dogs, the Ingham county Animal Shelter put on the first annual Pets For Our Vets event which allowed for veterans to receive free pets.

"We wanted to find a way to thank those who have served our country for veteran's day,” said Ashley Hayes Volunteer and Special Events Coordinator. “We also are always trying to find ways to find great homes for the pets here so we figured free pets for our vets would be a great way to do that.”

The shelter asked anyone interested in sponsoring an adoption to donate money to cover the cost for the pets.

Because the shelter is run through tax payer dollars, turning away animals is not an option and as a result have seen a huge increase in dog populations this fall. The shelter can hold up to 100 cats and dogs at a time but after this capacity is reached will be forced to euthanize dogs who have been in the shelter the longest.

"Our adoption rates haven't necessarily been lower, it's just that we've got way more adoptable dogs than we usually do this time of year,” said Hayes. “We have four dog wards and usually two of those are adoptable dogs. Right now three of those are full with adoptable dogs and it’s been that way since about July."

The shelter normally finds more issue with cat overcrowding than dogs so they are asking Ingham County residents to pitch in and adopt or foster.

"Since we're an open admission shelter, we would have to euthanize due to space if we had more animals than we could fit in the shelter, but that's why we try to really promote adoption as well as we have a very large foster program,” said Hayes.

Hayes said that they have a lot of volunteers and residents willing to take the animals into their homes on a temporary basis. They also work with rescues like Voiceless to avoid more extreme measures.