In the past year, many animal shelters in South Florida struggled with overcrowding, causing them to rely on fosters to take in animals and prepare them for adoption.
Stefanie Minguell is the founder and president of Saving Grace and her Furry Friends, an animal foster and adoption program in Broward County. She first became a foster parent two years ago after saving her dog Grace from a kill shelter.
“I just couldn’t imagine her dying in a shelter,” Minguell shared.
Many shelters currently struggle to accommodate the influx of rescues who have either been abandoned or found homeless on the streets due to overpopulation, financial strain from housing, loss of benefits and limited support for animal shelters. While foster programs are taking in these rescues, they still encounter problems in providing the animals proper care.
“We really don’t know their background,” Minguell explains, “so sometimes we get them and they need a very expensive surgery or medication and you have to figure out how to get it. It all depends on what it is.”
Minguell says it is more important than ever for fosters to do their best to take care of these animals since many shelters are over capacity. She remains determined to rescue as many animals as she can and provide them a loving home.
