Culture
Family pets are the latest casualty of inflation, say shelters
Some crowded shelters are worried they will have to start euthanizing animals. “We are at what we would refer to as critical capacity right now,” said a volunteer at the St. Joseph Animal Shelter in Missouri
July 21, 2022 7:42pm
Updated: July 22, 2022 3:32pm
Animal shelters around the country are reporting fewer adoptions and more surrenders of pets “as pet owners’ budgets are squeezed by rising costs of living.
Katy Hansen, the director of marketing and communications at Animal Care Centers of NYC, said that the number of owners surrendering their pets was up 25% in the first half of 2022, compared to the same period last year.
“There have been a lot of stories out there saying, ‘Oh, the pandemic pets are being returned,’” Hansen told MarketWatch.
“That’s not what we’re finding. The increase in surrenders that we’re finding are from family-owned pets. They’ve owned these pets for years. They’re in a financial situation that they can’t get out of.”
Hansen also said adoptions are down because hopeful owners are worried about the cost, especially with inflation hitting a 41-year high of 9.1% last month.
Rents in the city have surged almost 25% in New York City over the past year. The average monthly rent in Manhattan, its financial center, hit $5,000 for the first time ever in June.
But it’s not only dense urban metropolises seeing this trend. Earlier this month, a dog was abandoned in a Jacksonville, Fla., park with a note that read, “Has all of her shots very friend, unable to keep due to raise in my rent.”
MarketWatch also cites reports of fewer adoptions and more surrenders from shelters in Arizona, North Carolina, Northwest Indiana and Missouri. The most common surrenders are dogs, which are among the most expensive animals to keep.
Some crowded shelters are worried they will have to start euthanizing animals.
“We are at what we would refer to as critical capacity right now,” said a volunteer at the St. Joseph Animal Shelter in Missouri.
Aubrey Silvey, Humane Educator for St. Joseph’s city health department, says the shelter has not had to euthanize dogs for space in over five years. They have held more adoption specials this summer to try and move animals but are only breaking even.
“It’s kind of like as many as we can get out the door, we get that many back almost the same day,” Silvey told the St. Joseph News-Press.
“They keep pouring in.”
