Many shelters are doing everything you’ve mentioned. Mine does and they still get overflows. The things that really hammer them are hoarders, ferals (which they have a spay program for) and abandoned animals. It is surprising the number of animals that are coming in because they’ve been left in an empty apartment or house.
The other thing that makes my shelters’ numbers go up are because the “no kill” shelters around here only take certain animals and have less room than other shelters, so they pass the rest onto other shelters. They get to claim they’re no kill but they don’t accept all animals, and most have nowhere else to go but our shelter. It’s really a bogus claim that most “no kill” shelters claim. They take only the best animals and most others are sent to other places and they wind up with excess numbers.
The blame lays heavily on the public and breeders. People would not be surrendering their animals if they didn’t buy them in the first place. Most of these people surrender them because they bought the animal on impulse and have no idea what’s required to take care of it. Shelters would not have to deal with massive numbers of animals in bad shape if hoarders were dealt with properly and allowed to continue hoarding. Breeders keep pumping out supply when supply is already excess and perfectly good adoptable animals could be adopted instead.
Not overly fond of breeders myself, but I know that there are public no-kill shelters that are doing it right and have managed to become “no kill” — and for that I’m grateful. They are still the minority, but the idea that the public shelter doesn’t have to be a one-way street is catching on. Of course it would be great if people wouldn’t abandon their animals and if they cared, but not everyone will. Unfortunately, most shelter directors with whom I’m familiar do NOT do everything possible to get the animals into good homes. They may be nice people as far as that goes, but they have no clue about thinking outside the box in order to get animals into homes. Let’s face it, it takes a LOT of work — and most are completely unfamiliar with the concept of marketing. They might be on television with one pet once a week in the wee hours...not good enough. It CAN be done right, but few do. Most DO continue to blame the public rather than roll up their sleeves and get after it. It’s easier, and I guess it helps them sleep better at night... Not all, but most are NOT doing what they could be doing. Not by a long shot. If yours is, it’s the rare exception, not the norm.