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Aug 14, 2008 5:17 pm US/Eastern

Too Many Cats, Not Enough Homes

There Are Up To 300,000 Cats Roaming South Florida

Click Here To Visit The Humane Society Of Broward County

FT. LAUDERDALE (CBS4) ― These days, one will see a sight that is becoming all too familiar: cats, cats and more cats. Unfortunately adoptions are way down which is creating a hopelessly mounting situation of simply too many cats.

Cherie Wachter, marketing director for the Humane Society of Broward County, told CBS4 Reporter Ted Scouten that in one-month period, South Florida shelters took in more than 4,600 cats. Of those, about 3,800 were put to sleep.

Officials at the Broward County Animal Care and Regulation said that in addition to strays and pets surrendered by their owners to the shelter, 267 dogs were abandoned in 2007, up from 198 in 2006.

It's difficult to document whether more pets are being abandoned at shelters because of economic problems. Government-run shelters receive only about a third of their animals from people who bring them to the door. When owners show up to surrender their pets, the shelters don't ask why.

While pet overpopulation throughout the country is generally declining, the numbers of animals brought to South Florida shelters has climbed.