Animals are arriving at Sterling Animal Shelter and getting adopted within the same week.

Kendel Burdeaux, the assistant director of operations at the shelter, said they see hundreds of applications every time they post adoptable animals.

The quick turn around has been like this the past year during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"It's a weird isolating feeling to have to socially distance. One of the best parts about pets is they don't have to follow those rules and can provide the comfort you may be lacking," said Burdeaux. 

Thirty puppies arrived from Texas last week and almost all of them already have appointments made with interested adopters.

"We had over 200 applications from just one day of posting them," she said. 

While the number of people looking to adopt has gone up, the high demand has shot the number of actual adoptions way down.

"We are just seeing less come in, but we are also seeing a greater effort to prevent surrenders in the first place," explained Burdeaux.

The shelter hopes anyone who adopted a pet during the pandemic doesn't bring the animal back once it's over.

"I don't think we are experiencing that. Our staff is really great at asking adopters, if they have thought about when the schedule changes," said Burdeaux.

You'll have to act fast, but the shelter has a handful of dogs, dozens of cats and fish currently looking for a home.

"Honestly, people will come for animals no matter if it's rain, shine or snow," she said.