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Nashville pet foster groups deal with overcrowding

Nashville pet foster groups deal with overcrowding
Cats in Nashville
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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — It's a problem that groups like the Nashville Humane Association and Metro Animal Care and Control know all too well: overcrowding at their shelters driven by an overpopulation of dogs and especially cats across Middle Tennessee.

This week, Metro Council leaders met with folks from Metro Animal Care and Control and nonprofit animal rescue and foster groups to come up with possible solutions.

One item they discussed: increasing the number of low-cost spay and neuter clinics across Nashville. That's an idea that Critter Cavalry Rescue says they'd love to see.

Foster groups like them also feel the effects of overcrowding at shelters as they're needed more often to alleviate the pressure and get strays into foster homes.

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Rhori: https://ewscripps.brightspotcdn.com/5b/25/a224d13d47739165c92b94e643db/rhori-recommends-header.png

Eugene: https://ewscripps.brightspotcdn.com/7b/09/9eaf788d46f580c4234978610d60/screenshot-2026-04-29-at-12-11-52-pm.png

Lelan: https://ewscripps.brightspotcdn.com/af/54/833bf879454097a398bd44f723de/lelan-recommends.png

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Katie: https://ewscripps.brightspotcdn.com/77/55/afe9375249a4b9e058e4b2c3d2ea/screenshot-2026-04-15-at-12-00-46-pm.png

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The skies were closed on 9/11. A Nashville phone call helped save a baby’s life

September 11, 2001 is a day most associate with terror and tragedy. Austin Pollack shares a story from that day about hope and persistence: the effort to save a little girl’s life – with an organ donation. The problem? The young patient was in Houston, and her life-saving liver here in Nashville. With the grounding of all civilian aircraft, how could it be done? “Nobody ever said this isn’t possible.”

- Rhori Johnston