Lyon County Animal Services has moved 35 dogs out of its Silver Springs facility through an emergency push for adoptions and rescue transfers, and the shelter avoided performing any space related euthanasias in the process, reports KOLO.

The relief follows a public plea earlier this month, when the shelter said it might be forced to end its 12 year no-kill streak.

Five regional partners, the Nevada Humane Society, Pet Network Humane Society, the Wylie Animal Rescue Foundation, Res-Que, and the Humane Society of Truckee-Tahoe, transferred 20 dogs out of the shelter.

Nine more dogs were adopted directly, and six were reunited with their owners.

Shelter supervisor Nicole Cates said the relief will not last long.

The facility still has full kennels and a surrender waitlist that stretches back to April, with 62 dogs still waiting for space to open up.

“We are about four months out on our surrender list,” Cates said.

Lyon County Animal Services has 36 standard kennels and eight quarantine kennels, 44 total, and it had been holding 69 dogs before the recent push to place animals.

As an open-admission shelter, it cannot turn away animals brought to its doors, which staff say makes the underlying overcrowding difficult to solve long term.

The shelter has not had to euthanize an adoptable dog for space reasons in more than 12 years.

Cates said any euthanasia decision requires a unanimous vote from all six staff members and is limited to severe medical conditions, unmanageable aggression, or a dog’s serious mental and physical decline from prolonged kennel stress.

To prevent future intakes, the shelter runs low-cost spay and neuter services through a partnership with the Carson City Animal Services Initiative, along with vaccine clinics every other month and public microchipping.

Lyon County residents can help by adopting, fostering through WARF or Res-Que, volunteering to walk and clean kennels, or making sure their own dogs wear ID tags and microchips so lost pets do not add to shelter pressure.

The shelter can be reached at 775-577-5005 for adoption and volunteer information.