MADACC overwhelmed with pets; Milwaukee officials working to help

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) - The Milwaukee Area Domestic Animal Control Commission (MADACC) has been dealing with an influx of animals coming into the shelter since the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2025, the shelter saw over 12,000 pets come through its doors, with over 10,000 of them from Milwaukee.

“We’re overwhelmed with intake,” MADACC Executive Director Karen Sparapani said. “Now people are surrendering animals.”

Some Milwaukee Common Council members are looking to tighten the city pet owner ordinance, to try to limit the number of pets going into shelters.

Currently, people can have up to four pets in one household, and five with a fancier permit.

The rules apply to dogs, cats, or rabbits that are over five months old.

The proposed change would keep the numbers the same, but enforce the rules for pets of all ages, and let people have 6 or more with an exemption.

For Sparapani, the concern is about enforcement, and she believes the numbers should be lower.

“The last I was told by DNS there’s 43 people with a fancier permit in the city of Milwaukee,” Sparapani said. “I know there are far more people that don’t have a fancier permit.”

The proposed changes also include the rule that no dog may be tethered for more than 6 hours within any 24-hour period.

“We gotta stop tethering dogs,” Sparapani said. “Dogs need to live with their people, if you get a dog and you don't want it to live in your house because it wasn't trained properly and just easier, you really shouldn't have the dog.”

The new changes would also require all cats and dogs kept in Milwaukee to be microchipped and registered with a nationally recognized pet recovery database.

“I’m happy that they’ve taken a step towards opening up the ordinance and making some changes,” Sparapani said. “It’s trying to have some regulation to it but it’s not really making it difficult.”