REPUBLIC, Mo.– Inflation is affecting more than just humans.

Area animal shelters said more animals are being taken to their shelters as a result of inflation.

“We’re having owners surrender their animals and stuff to make to try to lessen the burden for them,” Christina Elmore, a supervisor at Republic Animal Control said.

The Humane Society of Southwest Missouri said with over 300 animals in their system they’re currently full.

“We’ve had more intakes than we’ve had adoptions, that plays a big part into why we’re so limited on space and why everyone around the nation is,” Katie Newcomb with the Humane Society of Southwest Missouri said. “People just simply can’t afford their animals anymore.”

“Even in my office, there’s a cute little pit puppy in there,” Newcomb added.

In Republic, animal control is also seeing cages constantly full, housing more than 100 animals even after finding homes for dozens of pets in the past few weeks.

In response to that overwhelming number of pets, Republic Animal Control created a pet pantry for Republic residents, an effort to help owners keep their pets inside the home if the prices of food become too much.

“We were seeing the need for people having assistance. Some of the animals were getting thin and we asked, ‘Why?'” Elmore said.

Elmore said the response they saw was owners who simply couldn’t financially afford to take care of or feed their pets any longer, a need the Animal Control Center is hoping to resolve with the pet pantry. She said the food comes from other Republic residents or through donations from outlets like Amazon.

If they have the food available, Elmore said they’ll help whoever in Republic needs it.

“It helps keep animals in the household during the time frame to help them kind of get through that time for struggling,” Elmore said.