Bloomington Animal Shelter is seeing a seasonal rise in pet surrenders. Director of Animal Care and Control Virgil Sauder said the trend is tied to ending leases and housing challenges.

Sauder said the shelter typically receives 10-20 more surrendered animals in May than usual. While that might seem like a small number, it can be represent about a 40% increase from normal months.

“It's enough when it comes to the shelter and moving animals through the shelter that it can cause problems, backups and kennels being full or crowding issues to occur,” Sauder said.

The shelter sees the spike from mid-May through early June and again before Indiana University’s fall semester.

“It’s kind of built into the schedule as much as we can schedule anything,” Sauder said, explaining that the increase is driven by rental restrictions such as breed limitations and added pet fees.

According to Sauders, surrenders tend to be larger-breed dogs more than other pets.

“If you come to the shelter, you can walk through the kennels, you can kind of see, just based on the size, most of the dogs we get in are ones that are harder to find a home,” Sauder said.

Sauder said the shelter also loses student volunteers this time of year, which creates a gap in available foster homes for dogs.

“Housing is hard and housing is really expensive, so it's a huge portion of what people pay every month,” Sauder said. “To add on to the basic rent a massive pet deposit or monthly bump in the rent, it's tough, and it's challenging for a lot of people.”