Bad economy creates animal welfare crisis
By Gary Bogue
Thursday, April 9th, 2009 at 7:53 am in Animal welfare, Cats, dogs, Economy, Pets.
A family puppy
A new survey from Petfinder.com, a network of more than 12,400 animal adoption organizations, finds that 84 percent of shelters and rescue groups are reporting pet surrenders because of the economic downturn, foreclosures and / or job losses.
And 74 percent said that they have seen an increase in pets being given away or abandoned since this time last year due to these economic trials.
A family cat by Gary Bogue, Benicia, Calif.
Many shelters and rescue groups are overcrowded and are being forced to turn pets away, elevating the problem further.
According to the survey:
** 47 percent of shelters and rescue groups said the No. 1 economy-related reason pets are being surrendered is because of general financial difficulty.
** 18 percent said the driving factor was people having to relocate.
** 16 percent said the No. 1 reason was foreclosures.
As the largest on-line database of adoptable pets, Petfinder.com also uncovered in the survey that 37 percent of shelters and rescue groups have seen a decrease in pet adoptions over the past year.
Lots more at http://www.petfinder.com
I suspect that most of the shelters and non-profit animal rescue organizations in this country are also experiencing a significant drop in donations for all of the above reasons. You know that times are really tough when people start dumping their long-time family pets. /Gary
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April 18th, 2009 at 1:31 pm
Gary, I hope this is an OK way to ask a question. we live in Sunol, and have recently seen a new animal in our yard, eating cat food. it runs away when seen. It is light brown/grey, about the size of a small dog, canine looking, with a straight, furry tail. it looks like a small coyote. could it be a fox? we would like to encourage it to come around. thanks, Ben