QUESTION: I hear about 20 animals a day get brought in to the Durham shelter. Where do they all come from?

ANSWER: That's often one of the first questions people ask when they see so many animals in the dog runs and cat cages. Before I answer that, I would like to say that the Animal Protection Society of Durham is very grateful to have this opportunity to communicate with the community through The Durham News and welcome any questions you may have for us.

Yes, on average we receive about 20 animals every single day. Over 7,000 animals came to us in 2008. We wish it weren't so and are working to reduce that figure.

Animals come to us from all kinds of situations, but most are considered either "strays" or "owner surrenders." In 2008, 4,103 stray animals were brought to the shelter. A stray is any animal with no apparent owner who is found by caring citizens or picked up by Animal Control. Each is checked to see if he or she has tags and scanned for a microchip in hopes we may locate the owner.

We also received about 400 animals that were abandoned in homes or were taken because of concerns about animal cruelty. Animal Control also houses animals at the shelter that are part of ongoing court cases or that need to be quarantined. The vast majority of the remaining animals we receive are owner surrenders. Last year we took in 2,386 animals that fall in this category.

While the APS believes that owning a pet is a commitment for the life of the animal, there are a variety of circumstances in which people choose to surrender their pets. Regardless of the reasons, the Durham County Animal Shelter takes in all animals because we would rather an animal be in our care, receiving food, medicine, shelter and affection than forced to fend for itself living homeless and unwanted.

Our efforts to reduce the number of animals brought to the shelter include addressing many of the reasons why the animals are brought in. We continually reach out to the pet owners at the shelter, in the media and with outreach at dozens of community events and festivals. We support the important work of a local organization, AnimalKind, to reach out to low-income pet owners with low-cost spay/neuter certificates and we counsel owners who bring in litters of puppies and kittens to get their animals fixed. We provide resources to pet owners such as free pet food through the Salvation Army, and we offer dog training and cat care advice so someone who may just need a little help can keep his or her pets and not need to surrender them.

It remains important for us to be aware of where the animals come from so we can continue to address the causes of pet overpopulation and work to find solutions so fewer animals need to be brought to the shelter.