ST. GEORGE — Experiencing a significant increase in the number of pet adoptions throughout the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, animal shelters are now filled to capacity with too many animals and not enough people looking to bring home their forever four-legged friend.
The easing of COVID-19 restrictions, a sharp spike in the cost for families to make financial ends meet, a lack of funding and staffing at shelters, and a growing number of people returning COVID pets or abandoning them to the streets have some in their industry worried.
Some analysts say that it could be the beginning of a perfect storm.
Shelter Animals Count, which runs a national database that tracks shelter and rescue activity, analyzed pet adoptions during the recent pandemic. The group tracks approximately 500 rescue organizations across the United States. It recorded 26,000 more pet adoptions in 2020 than in 2019 — a 15% rise.
Officials from adoption organizations analyzed the reasons for the increase with the primary motivation for pet ownership listed as emotional support to survive the isolation of the pandemic.
The Humane Rescue Alliance estimates that as many as 23 million U.S. households adopted a pet during the pandemic.
The most recent data suggests 4% more animals entered shelters than left. This represented the largest gap in the previous four years.
The number of animals entering shelters continues to slightly increase annually since the pandemic began but is still 16% less than in 2019. Dog intakes represented the majority of the increase.
“Unfortunately, if someone is having a hard time paying rent or putting food on the table, it can be that much more difficult to provide for a pet,” said Michelle Sathe, public relations and marketing strategist with Best Friends Animal Society.
A recent Forbes survey noted that 44% of pet owners last year used credit cards to pay for their pet’s care.
But there are options to going into debt from pet ownership or returning a pet back to a shelter or choosing the most drastic course of action, abandonment, Sathe said.
“If finances are a strain for pet owners, there are usually programs in their area that may be of assistance, such as pet food pantries and low-cost veterinary clinics,” Sathe said. “Shelters can also be a resource in providing information on other programs available in your community.
“It’s hard to say whether the situation will get worse before it gets better. The current economic outlook has experts debating on whether the U.S. will face a recession in the near future, which can affect every individual differently.”
Should anyone decide it’s impossible to properly care for a pet, try re-homing the pet privately through family, friends and social media such as Facebook or NextDoor rather than surrendering it to a shelter. Best Friends offers tips on how to screen potential new owners, Sathe added.
Pet abandonment
The population of animals in shelters is caused by a combination of factors, but nationally, it is not solely driven by an increase in owner surrenders.
Relinquishment rates remain consistent during the last four years at around 25%, but as COVID protocols continue to terminate and if the cost of living continues to remain high, rescue organizations could feel the pinch in the number of people who return their pets to a shelter or those who take more drastic and illegal actions.
Across the country, there has been a recent rash of owners abandoning their animals.
In South Salt Lake City, a dog was found tied up outside a Utah animal shelter during a severe and historic winter storm. Although the dog was described by animal services staff as being cold, wet and scared, the dog was reportedly found uninjured.
In Kansas City, Missouri, a 3-year-old Pitbull, Jolene, was found frozen to the bottom of its wire crate surrounded by frozen feces.
When rescuers found the dog inside an abandoned home, her body was stiff, and she was unresponsive, according to news reports. The odds for survival were low, but the dog managed to keep fighting to stay alive. At last reports, Jolene fought a valiant battle and won. After mending enough, she went home with one of her rescuers where she continues to heal.
In Eau Clarie, Wisconsin, workers at an animal shelter rescued a dog, Gus, who had been tied to the facility’s front door. News reports said the previous owner had left the dog outside in freezing temperatures and left but returned later to go through the process of officially surrendering Gus.
In Aliso Viejo, California, in mid-February, a dog named Nirvana – loyal to a fault – was abandoned and stayed where her family left her, in the parking lot of a car wash.
When the black and white pup was found she had been there for two days curled up on her blanket and surrounded by all of her toys. Employees of the car wash realized the dog was in physical jeopardy and rescuers were called in to help.
When rescuers arrived, they were reported to say, Nirvana was sleepy and exhausted from waiting for her family to return.
Found in good health the only thing rescuers said the dog needed was fixing a broken heart. The pooch is now with a foster family and is said to be “sweet, happy and playful.”
Perhaps one of the more enduring stories of abandonment happened in Chattanooga, Tennessee in January.
According to ABC11 Raleigh-Durham, a local animal shelter had intervened when a dog was found wandering the streets alone with a note on her collar.
The note read, “My name is Lilo. Please love me. My mom can’t keep me and is homeless with two kids. She tried her best but can’t get help. I cost too much for her. She really loves me and I’m a great dog and love to be loved on. Please don’t abuse me.”
The shelter said Lilo, who was found wandering with her collar and leash still attached, has subsequently been reunited with her owner.
While the shelter cannot share the details of Lilo’s abandonment and return to her family, they are working with the family to provide a safe haven, shelter and resources to stay together and overcome their homelessness.
In most states, it is a crime to leave an animal outside – abandoned or at home in the backyard – with no shelter or water.
Judah Battista, chief sanctuary officer with Best Friends Animal Society emphasized the value of strong community support.
“When a community is aware a shelter needs help, the responsibility rests on developing ongoing engagement with them,” Battista said. “The community needs to know the challenges. Shelters can’t operate in a vacuum but rather they should reflect the values and priorities of their community.”
“That is why shelters exist. People don’t want stray animals to be locked away. They want a place of hope for unwanted, abandoned or lost pets.”
Battista has worked on behalf of animals for 35 years and has witnessed a change in societal priorities.
“The surprise that I’ve had is a shift in perspective,” he said. “When you are in animal welfare, you tend to connect with people and organizations who are overwhelmed and under-resourced.”
While it’s easy to end up with a pretty pessimistic view, Battista said it’s the connection with those in the community who want to make a difference and provide additional support that provides a more optimistic outlook.
“Does this mean all animal welfare needs in Utah will be fixed? No, but that will give us a benchmark and a baseline for no-kill options and to develop the best and appropriate solutions that a community can embrace and support,” he said. “But as a nation, there is a long way to go.”
Euthanasia
In 2021, data suggests that for the first time in five years, the number of cats and dogs euthanized in the U.S. increased.
- Between 4,000 and 10,000 animals are euthanized in shelters daily.
- Approximately 25% of animals entering shelters are confirmed euthanized with 9 out of 10 considered adoptable, having no painful or life-threatening conditions.
- As many as 57% of euthanized animals are un-weaned kittens.
- In 2011, 2.6 million shelter animals were euthanized, consistently dropping to 1.4 million in 2019.
- Euthanasia in animal shelters has declined nearly 91% since 1970; however, more than 500,000 animals are euthanized each year because of the lack of funding for local shelters.
- Americans pay $1.5 billion annually for animal control, including the cost of euthanasia.
Although the rate of euthanasia among shelter animals is in decline at the high end, it is estimated that 100 million animals are euthanized every year regardless of the legality of the killing. Spots.com calculates a more conservative number of between 11 and 25 million animals annually euthanized.
Industry in crisis
The latest national data pinpoints the growth in population imbalance experienced throughout all types of shelters between January and September 2022.
More than 630 brick-and-mortar shelters – 185 municipals, 238 privates with government contracts and 216 without contracts – represented 1.3 million total animal intakes for the first nine months of 2022.
While shelter intake was up 4.9% (10.1% for dogs), positive outcomes did not keep pace, as live outcomes were down -2.1% (-0.4% for dogs). This reduction in outcomes not only caused an increase in shelter deaths, but it has also led to more animals in shelters and increased strain on shelter staff.
While municipal agencies increased adoptions in 2022, private organization adoption numbers decreased.
This has come at a “devastating price” to municipal agencies, which have seen a 103% increase in dogs killed – defined by the number of dogs euthanized beyond the 90% no-kill benchmark.
“That’s a high price indeed for both the animals whose lives are lost and for the staff making those decisions,” Brent Toellner, senior director of lifesaving programs at Best Friends Network, wrote in an internal marketing document.
“The goal of decreasing shelter deaths to get to no-kill by 2025 is going to take all of us working together for the betterment of shelter pets across the nation,” he added. “But we need to all feel the struggle and not put it on the backs of a smaller subset of shelter workers.”
Battista agreed.
“I would say 99% of the time when shelters fail, they fail because the community doesn’t know that they are overwhelmed,” Battista said. “Our biggest effort centers around collaboration and empowerment with our shelter partners. Our role isn’t to do it instead of, but to provide resources that will help other organizations feel comfortable to try something different.”
This is not an indictment of the industry, Battista added.
“It is a chance to focus on opportunities to provide foster or permanent homes, and develop programs that meet the needs of the animals and the communities that they live in,” he said.
No-kill shelter programs
The Best Friends Network comprises thousands of public and private shelters, rescue groups, spay/neuter organizations and other animal welfare groups across all 50 states.
Best Friends’ flagship enterprise is a commitment to fostering no-kill programs across the nation. Targeting cats and dogs, Best Friends’ goal is to achieve that goal by 2025.
At the forefront of this movement is the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Kanab.
The role of the sanctuary is to deliver support to shelters that have not yet achieved no-kill status – those facilities that have a 90% or better save rate – as well as serving a variety of animals in a way that a sanctuary is uniquely positioned to accomplish.
On any given day the sanctuary offers a safe place to heal up to 1,600 dogs, cats, birds, bunnies, horses, pigs and other animals.
To date, it is the largest sanctuary of its kind in the U.S. and has become the heart of a collaborative no-kill movement and model for the future of animal welfare.
“It’s not unheard of some organizations achieving 95-96% save rate with the goal to save 100%, but we recognize that because of medical or behavioral reasons the most compassionate outcome is humane euthanasia,” Battista said.
Although many shelters will euthanize when it is a last resort, one challenge for others is that they have not yet adopted programs that offer solutions to euthanasia. The result? Shelter animals are often killed as a means of population management.
“A lot of Southern Utah shelters – St. George, Cedar City and Washington last year – missed the 90% threshold by only a few animals,” Battista said. “The goal for the coming year, and we think it’s attainable, is for every shelter in Utah to become a no-kill facility.”
Animal welfare by the numbers
- Utah: 49,187 cats and dogs entered a shelter in 2022, with 43,572 saved, and 886 killed.
- St. George City: Animal services – City owned and operated – 1,065 cats and dogs entered a shelter with 1,039 saved. This translates to a no-kill save rate of 97.56%.
- PAWS: – Providing Animals with Support – 581 animals entered a shelter with 543 saved or a save rate of 93.46%.
- Washington, Iron and Kane Counties: 7,054 animals entered with 6,785 saved.
- National Data: 4.6 million animals entered a shelter in 2022, with 3.8 million saved of a no-kill save rate of 52%.
“There is one thing I’ve learned over the years, there are many other ways to handle challenges that don’t require an animal to be killed,” Battista said. “It’s about building ties and working together to create sustainable solutions.”
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