A dog at Mercy Full Project // Chris Young, WMNF News, 6/11/2026

Listen:

Shelters across the region are facing an overwhelming number of animals due to economic constraints, housing issues, and deportations. 

Heydi Acuna is tending to the dogs at the Mercy Full Project. It’s a foster-home-based animal rescue located at a small house in West Tampa. 

Heydi Acuna and a peer pose with Lolita // Chris Young, WMNF New, 6/11/26

She was inspired to open the rescue after seeing various animals roaming the streets in her childhood hometown of Bogota, Colombia. 

She stops to show Lolita, a dog she says has been at the rescue for over a year. 

“Lolita was actually part of an immigration case. The owner of Loli had another dog, and they had babies, and he contacted me last April, right after the new administration, and he needed to get rid of his dogs because he was in the process of getting deported. And I think sadly he got deported.” Acuna told WMNF.

The Mercy Full project opened in 2019. They take care of strays and pet surrenders. 

But Acuna says the uptick in animals needing rescuing is the worst she’s ever seen. 

“I’ve never seen the amount of strays coming in in any of the organizations in the area, especially with us, because now they know we have space, and capacity, they come all the time, like, we in the last week, for example, we have taken probably around 40 strays just from those areas where lot of immigrants used to live.” Acuna said.

Shelters across West-Central Florida are consistently operating well above capacity. 

The Hillsborough County Pet Resource Center is currently at about 150% capacity for dogs; some have been at the shelter more than 100 days.

Chelsea Waldeck, division director of Hillsborough County’s Pet Resource Center, says it’s a variety of factors, including a changing economy and housing prices.

She says they have also seen a small number of animals coming in from deportations. 

Outside of Mercy Full Project // Chris Young, WMNF News, 6/11/2026

“So for us, it really is very tough. You know, we love these animals as if they were our own, so for us, we want to make sure they are getting into good home, so for us we want to make sure they are getting into good homes, we wish we could take them all home with us if we could.” Waldeck said.

Back at the Merciful Project, Acuna is looking for volunteers, foster parents, and donations for the overwhelming amount of animals they care for. 

Despite the hectic situation statewide, Heydi Acuna says she still finds joy in her job. 

She is currently looking for volunteers, foster parents and donations to support the overwhelming number of animals under their care.

“I feel [like] the happiest woman alive. I am so happy, even with the biggest problems that we ever face, I’m just happy to be here – I’m happy to see them how they come in, and how they leave our organization.” Acuna said.

For more information and to see how to adopt Lolita and others, click here.