CAPS is in urgent need of foster carers as it makes the difficult decision to pause taking on new dogs. Photo: Cape Animal Protection Shelter.
Cape Animal Protection Shelter (CAPS) has made the heartbreaking decision to close its books to new intakes for the time being as it operates at “200 per cent capacity”.
The Weipa animal shelter issued an urgent plea to the community for more foster carers last week after reaching its absolute limit.
Currently, CAPS has 61 dogs in care after seeing a huge influx of surrenders in 2026, but president Shayna Reeves said the facility can only comfortably accommodate 32 animals at a time.
“Running at 200 per cent capacity, it’s tough. When we get a phone call about a dog, we can’t just say, ‘yep, no worries’. Our shelter is full,” she said.
“Basically, I’m relying on wherever the dog is to ensure that it remains safe and looked after until I can actually place it.
“I’ve had to turn away two litters already; CAPS just isn’t in a position to be able to take them on.”
Ms Reeves said while they did not have space for new animals, CAPS could help out with food and any necessary preventative treatments for those wanting to surrender due to financial pressure.
CAPS is running a dog food drive for the Napranum community, and will be taking donations until 28 February.
She said the first lot of donations included dry and tinned food, tick and flea spray, worming prevention, and tick and flea prevention.
The same has also been done for the Aurukun community.
“Unwanted litter in community, a lot of it has to do with safety and financial impacts of keeping up with additional food and worming,” she said.
“We rely on our community so heavily for so much, and we have been supported so greatly, but we’re at a point where we physically have nowhere for them to go.
“As much as our books are closed, we’re not just saying no. It just means we have to be very vigilant, and if a dog can stay where it is until it buys me some time to work something out, then I’ll do my best.”
Since the beginning of 2026, CAPS has taken in 33 dogs and puppies, 13 of which were local, and 20 from surrounding communities.
Despite successfully flying out 17 dogs to other rescues or to their new homes, and celebrating seven adoptions, demand has been too high to keep up with.
“Just based on the stats that we’ve received for 2026, if it continues like this, it will be the biggest year yet for CAPS,” Ms Reeves said.
“Over 2025, I think it was about 70 or so dogs. We’re almost at half of that already, and we’re only a month and a half in.
“We’ve been actively fundraising to expand, but at the same time, it all comes at a cost. At the moment, our biggest priority is making sure that our dogs are receiving quality care enrichment, and they’re being housed accordingly to what we can manage.”
With the annual general meeting approaching on 5 March, Ms Reeves said she would love to see CAPS have a full committee for the first time.
She said she would also love to see more general committee members involved, even if they could only help out here and there.
“When you look at what we’re bringing through our doors, people do think, ‘That’s a huge workload; I can’t commit to that’, but more hands means less work,” she said.
“Even if it was someone who wanted to help at the market, or help with media, or assist with vet visits and transport, we have lots of flexible support that can be taken part of, and all these little things add up.
“We run 365 days a year; it’s not just for an event, so I think it can be quite overwhelming for people, but we don’t want our volunteers to burn out; we don’t want them to feel like it’s a chore, we want to make sure that they get a deserved break as well.”
