At the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, pet adoptions soared. Shelters across the nation celebrated rows of empty kennels as people clamored to bring a pet into their life.
But those joyous days are over. Today, shelters and rescue organizations are drowning in surrendered pets and adoptions are down. Things are so bad that many agencies have halted all intakes.
On Tuesday, The Humane Society of Hobart, Inc. (Indiana) alerted the public of their struggles, writing:
WE ARE COMPLETELY FULL!!!
We have no open runs in our large dog kennel. We have some amazing dogs that keep getting overlooked for no reason. Shelters everywhere are struggling and our large dog adoptions have almost completely halted. If you are looking to add a pet to your family PLEASE visit your local shelter, we are struggling!!!
And Beauties and Beasts in Wichita, Kansas, said:
LAST CALL FOR HUCKLEBERRY❗️ FIRM DEADLINE OUT BY CLOSE TODAY 6/21 OR EUTHANIZED🛑
🆘CODE RED THE WICHITA ANIMAL SHELTER IS FULL & EUTH LISTED ANIMALS ARE IN EXTREME DANGER🆘
Located @Wichita, KS Animal Shelter (NOT in the care of Beauties & Beasts Rescue)
Needy Paws Rescue in St. Louis, Missouri, shared similar sentiments on Tuesday, writing:
Every year, 920,000 shelter animals are euthanized, often for space. These dogs and cats lives end simply because nobody wants them and there is nowhere for them to go.
This is where rescues come in. Rescues have the ability to decrease that number by pulling animals from shelters and giving them another chance at life. We can’t do this without the help of foster families though.
We desperately need help from our community right now. Every shelter is full and rescues don’t have enough fosters. We can’t help animals without fosters homes. We pay for everything and help you find the perfect family for your foster pup.
If you have any questions about how the process works, please let us know!
Fill out your foster app today at www.needypaws.org
And the Richmond Animal League in Virginia stated:
Homes needed! Please share or come adopt! ❤️
Our dog kennels are getting very full and we have animal control partners who need our help, but in order for us to take in more pups, we need to find homes for the ones currently in our care. If you’ve been thinking of adopting, please come visit the amazing dogs we have available at our shelter. These smiling faces and wagging tails can’t wait to meet you!
People who were stuck at home in 2020 and 2021 clamored to alleviate their boredom by getting a pet…now that they are traveling and going back to work, they are dumping cats and dogs in record numbers. Please consider adoption if you are looking to add a four-legged friend to your family, and if your house is already full, please support your local shelter or rescue agency by volunteering or donating supplies.
when covid hit and i saw the adoption explosion i predicted this would be the end results. many of these people adopted these animals not as family members but as trinkets to ease their boredom. now that their lives are returning to normal instead of including these loving pets in their activities, they kick them to the curb like yesterdays newspapers. really is such a shame and these same clowns should never be allowed to adopt again.
Exactly…it is so heartbreaking! I agree 100% that the selfish adopters who chose to discard their pets after their lives resumed to somewhat normal, do not deserve to ever adopt another in the future! They obviously did not care enough about those they discarded, to honor the commitment one should be willing to make, to love ad care for them for the extent of their lives, and treat them as they would any other family member.
Put these people on a DNA LIST
Us people in Rescue/Adoptions in Calif predicted and are experiencing this same massive amounts of ” Owner Surrenders.”
As feared,, these pets were never really adopted to become a family member, just a temporary crutch to help get thru the lonely days of the pandemic–SMH!
To make matters worse, vet clinicsand shelters,, have completely shut down OR severely cut operating hours and services, creating a major roadblock to our ever increasing need of TNR, & Spay and Neutering of rescue and personal pets!!
This, with mainly year round kitten season, has now created an exploding amount of unfixed cats and dogs reproducing!!
We are constantly calling our city council members, our state legislators to hurry and completely reopen shelters to public, return staffs to get our animals altered and other needs taken care of!!