BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — The recent storms plaguing Kern County have been tormenting our furry friends. Many of them escaped their homes in confusion.

“Just like the fireworks do during the holidays the thunder will scare them,” Matthew Buck the director of the Bakersfield Animal Care Center said. “They will run and run and run and they’ll run so far they won’t remember where home is.”

The Bakersfield Animal Care Center kills on average 200 dogs a month. That’s about 50 dogs a week and about 10 every weekday.

The shelters can’t handle any more dogs. This is Kern’s ongoing dog crisis and because of the overflow of dogs about 50 pups a week have to be euthanized.

That leaves a big toll on the shelter’s workers who have to choose who lives and who dies.

“We here at staff feel dishearten a bit because over the last six years we’ve helped more dogs leave alive but our live release rate has been steady,” Buck said. “So even though we’re saving more dogs we’re euthanizing more dogs too.”

Many of the dogs are puppies and large breeds that can only stay in the shelter for just a couple of weeks before they get stir-crazy.

“It used to be every puppy made it out of the shelter alive but that’s not the case anymore,” Buck said.

So if you’re missing your pet go to the local shelters around town. It’s important you do it quickly because the shelters are already bursting at the seams.