Governor J.B. Pritzker speaks with Anti-Cruelty Society CEO Tracy Elliott during a press conference at the shelter located in River North on Dec. 13, 2023. (WTTW News)

Gov. J.B Pritzker proclaimed this week as Dog and Cat Adoption Week in Illinois as animal shelters face increased pressures with overcrowding in the years following the COVID-19 pandemic.

A dog in a kennel at Chicago Animal Care and Control on the Lower West Side on Nov. 8, 2023. Euthanasia is up 25% at the city animal shelter as it sees more stray animals come through its doors. (Eunice Alpasan / WTTW News)

“Any animal that walks through our door can be a candidate for euthanasia due to the population and everything that we go through here,” said acting executive director of the city of Chicago Department of Animal Care and Control Susan Cappello.

The Anti-Cruelty Society is participating in the national Clear the Shelters campaign and hosted a pair of events at the end of August. The agency is seeing an increase in the number of pets coming in after a drop-off in 2020. (Courtesy of The Anti-Cruelty Society)

Animal shelters across the city are seeing an increase this year in the number of pets coming through their doors. What’s behind that trend — and how shelters are trying to keep pets in homes.

Chicago Animal Care and Control, 2741 S. Western Ave. (WTTW News)

The finding by the inspector general is the second time in recent months that Ferguson has detailed misconduct within Chicago Animal Care and Control.

Chicago Animal Care and Control, 2741 S. Western Ave. (WTTW News)

City officials fired an animal care officer assigned to work at the city’s shelter after an investigation determined they sexually assaulted two co-workers while off-duty and outside of the office, according to a report from the city’s watchdog.

(Bolanu Teslaru Andrei / Pixabay)

Chicago Animal Care and Control and PAWS Chicago pivoted to online pet adoptions when Illinois’ stay-at-home order was issued. We check in on how that’s been going — and how else the pandemic has impacted animal shelters.

(Alexas_Fotos / Pixabay)

Join Chicagoans and their pooches across the city each night at 8 p.m. to show your support for health care workers, first responders and essential employees by howling.

Adler goes for a walk. (Courtesy of PAWS Chicago)
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Animal shelters are offering innovative ways to adopt pets during the statewide stay-at-home order. We reach out to two Chicago shelters to find out how the pandemic is changing their operations – but not their missions.

The injured coyote after it was captured by Chicago Animal Care and Control. (Chicago Animal Care and Control via AP)

The coyote, confirmed to have bitten a young boy, won’t be released back into the wild but will be placed in an educational setting to raise awareness of the need for peaceful coexistence.

This Friday, Jan. 10, 2020 photo provided by Chicago Animal Care and Control in Chicago shows an injured coyote after it was successfully located and safely darted with a tranquilizer. (Chicago Animal Care and Control via AP)

Animal control officials in Chicago said Sunday that DNA tests confirm a coyote recently captured in the city is the same animal that attacked a 6-year-old boy. 

This Friday, Jan. 10, 2020 photo provided by Chicago Animal Care and Control in Chicago shows an injured coyote after it was successfully located and safely darted with a tranquilizer. (Chicago Animal Care and Control via AP)

DNA tests to determine if a coyote captured on Chicago’s North Side is the same animal that attacked a 6-year-old boy will take weeks to complete, a city animal control official said Friday.

Chicago Animal Care and Control staff prepare a dog for surgery inside the shelter’s renovated medical unit. (Courtesy Chicago Animal Care and Control)

Chicago Animal Care and Control says its renovated facility and new medical equipment will allow staff to evaluate animals more quickly and carry out surgical procedures that will ultimately lead to more adoptions.

(Alex Silets / WTTW News)

People commonly adopt dog and cats from the pound, but there’s a new phenomenon in Chicago: stray chickens and roosters are being rounded up in an effort to find them their forever homes.

(Chicago Animal Care and Control / Facebook)

For Chicago pet owners, finding a lost dog or cat could now be just a few clicks away, thanks to an app built using facial recognition technology.

(U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Bennie J. Davis III)

Each year, Chicago Animal Care and Control takes in more than 3,000 stray dogs and 3,000 stray cats on average, but only a fraction of them are reunited with their owners. How a new app could help link lost pets with their owners.

Chicago Animal Care and Control Executive Director Kelley Gandurski poses for a picture with Ashley, a 6-year-old stray dog available for adoption. (Alex Ruppenthal / WTTW)

Chicago Animal Care and Control was so packed with cats late last summer that it sent out an urgent call for adoptions. Now, the department seems to have found a solution to one of its biggest challenges: overcrowding.