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Canine Flu Outbreak Creating Surplus Of Dogs At Suburban Shelter

(CBS) -- The canine flu outbreak has halted adoptions at several area no-kill shelters, meaning there's a surplus of animals.

CBS 2's Roseanne Tellez reports at the Animal Welfare League in Chicago Ridge the cages are pretty full.

The overcrowding is creating a new crisis, increasing the cost of caring for all the dogs. But as the dogs recover, this shelter is hoping for mass adoptions.

Jeval Pegues was surprised to find only seven dogs available for adoption at the shelter Tuesday.

"I was a little bit worried, but I didn't mind," he said. "I went with the seven dogs to see what they had and they had the one I wanted."

His new pit bull spot is the first dog to leave there since April 20 when adoptions were voluntarily halted.

"Thank God we did close when we did because we would have been adopting out animals with flu," said Linda Estrada with Animal Welfare League

They have 504 animals, at least 150 more than usual, and all recovering from the canine flu and with dogs coming in, but not going out.

"It's costing us about 12,900 a week on medication, IV and antibiotics to treat 504 sick dogs," Estrada said. "That's why when we open, we really need homes."

With a lot of dogs well into recovery, the shelter plans to open soon for adoptions, but even with healthy dogs, the crisis will not be over.

They're planning a grand re-opening is set for some time in the next week, but they haven't yet set an exact date.

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