Community Alert from Chicago Animal Care and Control
Chicago – In alignment with the City of Chicago’s activation of the Continuity of Operations Planning (COOP) related to COVID-19, effective immediately, Chicago Animal Care and Control services may be accessed by appointment only until further notice. Going forward all services must be made by emailing visitcacc@gmail.com
Be assured that we will have staff available to feed, clean, and provide exercise and enrichment for the animals in our care. Our Animal Control Officers will respond to emergency calls such as vicious animals, animal cruelty, and calls about injured animals only. We continue our commitment to saving animals’ lives, reuniting lost pets with their families, and finding loving homes for abandoned and orphaned animals.
What does this mean for our community?
- Adoptions
Want to adopt? Please visit Petharbor.com/Chicago or visit @CACCadoptables on Facebook to view photos and bios of the animals. If you find an animal that you are interested in, please email Visitcacc@gmail.com with your name, phone number and the name and the ID (A#) of the animal you are interested in. A volunteer will follow up with you with the next steps. If you want to adopt, we will note that there is an interested party, but adoptions and transfers will be honored on a first come-first-served basis and will only be approved after the applicant meets the pet.
- Redemptions
If you lost your pet, visit Petharbor.com/Chicago to view all the stray animals in the facility. If you think that one of the animals at CACC is your lost pet, email Visitcacc@gmail.com with your name, phone number and the ID (A#) from the Petharbor site, and a staff member will follow up with you with the next steps.
- Owner Surrenders
Anyone considering surrendering a pet should delay doing so, if possible. If this is not possible, email Visitcacc@gmail.com with your name, phone number and a brief description of your animal, and a staff member will follow up with you with the next steps.
- Find Your Friend a New Home Yourself
In order to alleviate the need to bring an animal into the shelter environment, our partners at the Anti-Cruelty Society offer a Home-to-Home Shelter Bypass service to help people find new accommodations for their pets privately. The service offers courtesy listings for pet owners who can no longer keep their companions, but want to take responsibility for re-homing the animals themselves. If you are interested, please contact akulla@anticruelty.org.
- Found a Lost Pet/Stray Animals
If you find a lost dog or cat that you can care for at your home, please visit helpinglostpets.com, lostdogsillinois.org or humanesociety.org/resources/how-help-stray-pet to see how you can help. If you can’t keep the dog or cat, please email visitcacc@gmail.com with your name, phone number and a brief description of the animal, and a staff member will follow up with you. Please note that we are unable to accept community/feral cats and kittens at this time unless they are orphaned and unweaned or injured. In this case, email askcacc@cityofchicago.org or call 3-1-1 to request pick-up.
- Volunteers
To ensure the health and safety of our volunteers and staff, CACC is suspending the Volunteer Program including the Doggie Day Out Program, effective Thursday, March 19, 2020 until further notice.
- How You Can Help
CACC is actively working to get as many shelter pets into good homes as possible. If you are interested in helping a shelter pet, please consider adopting or signing up to foster with any of CACC’s partner organizations. You can find a list of these organizations at: Chicago.gov/CACC.
- Transfers
Transfer hours will remain the same. Rescue partners should email caccrescue@cityofchicago.org as usual to place hold requests or for more information.
For more detailed information about COVID-19 and Animals please see these frequently asked questions from the Center for Disease Control: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/faq.html#animals
