The Central California SPCA working to reunite pets with owners after 4th of July

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- July 5th marks one of the busiest mornings of the year for animal shelters nationwide. A line formed at the Central California SPCA an hour before it even opened.

They face an influx of dogs and cats after dozens of star spangled salutes throughout the county-- starting days ahead of Independence Day.

"At the start of all the sales of the fireworks we started seeing an increase of our numbers. So we definitely did see a slight increase than what we did last year," said Walter Salvari, CCSPCA.

Unfortunately not all calls to service were animal pick-ups.

"Our officer only responds to emergency calls, so if a dog was hit on the streets or injured that's the kind of injury he responds to, so we did receive several of those calls," said Salvari.

Joey Vasquez took extra precautions this Fourth of July, double locking his fence. But his six-year-old bully Jones still managed to find a way out.

"I seen the fence broken through as if he had just rushed through it. Was really worried, my kids are at home very sad about it as well."

Vasquez spent the morning checking three different shelters.

Vasquez is already starting an online search through social media and posting flyers in the neighborhood.

"He's a part of our family now you know."

Over the next few days shelters are expecting even more animals to come in from the holiday-- so they are urging everyone to be on the lookout.

"Mostly it's the animals that are just scared and running and hiding somewhere under a car, a bush, near homes, and it's those dogs we really need to go out there and pick up or at least let us know that there's an animal running loose in your neighborhood," said Salvari.

July 5th to 10th reclaim fees are reduced to $12 for animals that are spayed or neutered and $50 for those that are not-- free for county animals.