13/06/2025
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Cedar Rapids, We Need to Talk About CRACC
If youâve been following our updates, you know weâve been pulling as many dogs as possible from Cedar Rapids Animal Care and Control (CRACC). Other local rescues are stepping up tooâbut itâs not enough.
CRACC has had to close multiple times due to being dangerously understaffed. They donât have enough people to answer phones, care for the animals, manage animal control, or serve the public. Cedar Rapids residents deserve to know the truth: CRACC is in crisis.
CRACC operates at or near full capacity every day. As the only open-admission shelter in Cedar Rapids, theyâre legally responsible for all strays, owner surrenders, abuse and hoarding cases, bite quarantines, and court-ordered holds. Many of these dogs are long-term staysâespecially those tied up in the backlogged court system, which can take over a year to resolve.
Weâre doing everything we can. Every dog we pull from CRACC opens a kennelâbut that also means we have to turn away local owner surrenders. We get many calls every day from people needing help. And before anyone points fingers about âimporting dogsââstop, we donât. We have always prioritized local dogs and have also supported the Bethany, MO area for over 10 years.
When CRACC has no open kennels and a new dog arrives, an existing dog has to be euthanized. Can you imagine working somewhere where youâre forced to kill dogs simply because thereâs no space? How long would you stay there?
CRACCâs current shelter opened in November 2013, five years after the original was destroyed in the 2008 flood. It was built to hold just 43 dogs and 124 catsâfor a city of 136,000 people. It was too small then, and itâs dangerously inadequate now.
National data shows roughly equal numbers of dogs and cats enter shelters each yearâyet CRACC has nearly three times as many cat kennels as dog kennels. That math doesnât work.
Dogs spend 24 hours a day in their kennels. Itâs not because the staff wants them to, itâs because they are struggling even to meet the basic needs of the animals in their care. The shelter was built with no meaningful enrichment space. Thereâs one small fenced area with no shade. There are no proper exercise yards , no structured play, and no enrichment program. Progressive shelters stopped housing dogs like this decades ago.
Staffing is another crisis. The shelter is chronically understaffed, and there are no open job postings. In the past the city did not allow volunteers to help. They seem to be more open to it now. Volunteers can help with some things like walking adoptable dogs, laundry, dishes,and providing enrichment activity for animalsâbut they canât handle strays, quarantined animals, dispense meds, answer phones, do animal control, or complete required paperwork.
A staff member has to train the volunteers and schedule them. This shelter has no volunteer coordinator position. If a staff member trains a volunteer, they have to take time away from their regular duties to get it done. If volunteers arenât scheduled, you have 10 people showing up to play with a dog and one small fenced yard.
This is unacceptable. Cedar Rapids isnât a third-world country. The city finds money for bike trails, new libraries, and electric scootersâbut not for humane, responsible care for animals in its custody?
If this angers you, good. It should.
City Manager Jeff Pomeranz controls CRACCâs budget. He and the City Council need to hear from you. Let them know this isnât okayâand that the people of Cedar Rapids expect better.
For those of you asking for contact information:
City Manager Jeff Pomeranz Phone 319-286-5080. Email: [email protected]
There are 8 city council members. One for each of the five districts and three elected at large.
District 1 â Marty Hoeger Phone 319-775-7896. Email [email protected]
District 2 - Scott Overland Phone 319-899-6709. Email [email protected]
District 3 â Dale Todd Phone 319-775-7926. Email [email protected]
District 4 â Scott Olson Phone 319-360-5295. Email [email protected]
District 5 â Ashley Vanorny Phone 319-775-7928. Email [email protected]
At Large 1 â Tyler Olson Phone 319-535-0635. Email [email protected]
At Large 2 -Ann Poe. Phone 319-350-7372. Email [email protected]
At Large 3 â David Maier Phone 319-391-8515. Email [email protected]
