Public Forum Delivers Gut Punch: “Healthy Dogs Are Dying.”
Foster Families Doing What City Hall Won’t
The Pound is Full, and So Are Tempers at City Hall
📍 By Jack Beckett | Charlotte Mercury | April 29, 2025
The dogs in Charlotte’s animal shelter aren’t dying of disease. They’re dying of math.
At Monday’s City Council public forum, frustrated rescue workers and volunteers told the city what’s been quietly happening for months: Charlotte-Mecklenburg Animal Care & Control (ACC) is in crisis. Kennels are full, staff are stretched, and healthy dogs are being euthanized — not for aggression, not for illness — but for space.
“I get emails almost daily begging me to take in dogs that have hours left,” said Katie Ferrioli, a longtime ACC volunteer and foster. “We can’t keep up. They’re dying because we have nowhere to put them.”
According to Ferrioli, ACC is averaging 127 dog intakes per week in 2025. Only about 25 leave the shelter through adoptions or foster placements. The result? Constant overflow and a weekly churn of emergency declarations that give staff little choice but to start euthanizing.
This isn’t hyperbole. This is the pattern.
🐾 “We’ve been under emergency conditions 13 times already this year,” said Kristen Lasprilla, another volunteer.
That’s once every two weeks.
The issue, they argue, is structural — and it starts with the fact that Charlotte’s only open-intake shelter is still operating out of a building opened in 1993, back when Charlotte had half the number of people and a third of the dogs.
👮♂️ CMPD: More Than Just a Badge
One big sticking point? Oversight.
ACC falls under the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department, meaning every volunteer is required to undergo CMPD-level screening, and every operational change runs through layers of law enforcement hierarchy.
Lasprilla didn’t mince words: “It’s killing us. We’re not asking for more paperwork — we’re asking for autonomy. We need our own leadership.”
The suggestion? Move ACC out from under CMPD and allow it to operate like a standalone city department, the way many peer cities do.
Council has heard the proposal before. It’s been brought up in budget workshops, subcommittees, even past forums. But as of Monday night, nothing has changed.
The staff keeps working. The fosters keep scrambling. And the dogs — well, many don’t leave alive.
🐕 Where Are the Kennels?
Not only has Charlotte failed to build a new animal shelter since 1993, it hasn’t added permanent kennel space in over three decades.
Think about that.
In a city of 900,000, the main shelter has 76 dog runs. That’s not enough for a weekend, let alone a month.
So who picks up the slack? Foster volunteers — unpaid, untrained citizens who are housing up to two-thirds of the shelter’s dogs at any given time.
“No other city in the country relies on fosters like this,” said Jason Sporzinski. “We’re housing hundreds of city dogs in private homes. And if the fosters quit, the dogs die.”
So far, the city’s response? Silence.
😬 The Council’s Role: Vote with a Leash
Monday’s forum didn’t require action. It was a chance for the public to vent — and vent they did.
But the timing was strategic.
Charlotte’s FY26 budget is under review. If Council is serious about fixing this, they’ll need to put money where the barking is.
That means funding a new shelter — not a patch job. That means considering governance changes. That means raising pay to retain staff before burnout gets them first.
And it means someone in the Government Center is going to have to decide whether the dogs deserve a seat at the table, or another year in the hallway.
🐾 As one speaker put it, “Compassion isn’t optional. It’s basic math.”
☕ This story was powered by black coffee and sheer will at Summit Coffee, where you can sip the best of Davidson at their flagship café or order the legendary Basecamp blend to fuel your next late-night shelter rant. Creating joy, one roasted bean at a time.
👕 And The Charlotte Mercury is brought to you by Glory Days Apparel — Charlotte’s premier nostalgia brand. Wear your childhood, your sports obsession, your civic pride — and look good doing it. Visit them at 2202 Hawkins Street in South End, or hit them up online for exclusive drops. Call 980-258-9992 or email info@glorydaysapparel.com. Charlotte’s stories, stitched in cotton.
For more local reporting with actual teeth, dig through our latest:
🧱 Politics
🏘️ Real Estate
🚨 CMPD + Public Safety
🗳️ City Council
🎭 Lifestyle
👀 Zoning Drama
📬 Got tips, rants, or rescue pics? DM us on X.com (or as the kids call it, Twix) @QueenCityExp.
Jack Beckett
Senior Writer, The Charlotte Mercury
Currently 2.5 espressos deep at Summit. Thinking about adopting a dog and naming it “Ordinance”
