Pandemic puppies? Animal shelters, vets overwhelmed with surrendered pets

Animal shelters throughout the state are at or close to capability, with stray or surrendered cats and canines arriving quicker than shelters can discover them new properties.

Last yr, South Salt Lake Animal Services normally had just one or two canines in its shelter at a time, in keeping with animal providers supervisor Jenica Laws. Currently, the shelter has 22.

“We take very good care of them,” Laws stated. “They get outside as often as we can let them out, but … it’s a little overwhelming sometimes when we have so many animals.”

The drawback is widespread all through the business, straining present assets at shelters and rising the workload for the employees tasked with caring for the animals. Overtime shifts and multitasking are widespread at shelters, which generally have to depend on administrative employees or volunteers to remain present with correct cleansing and hygiene.

Previously, shelters and rescues have been capable of share the load with each other by transferring animals forwards and backwards when one facility reaches capability. That’s not the case, because of the excessive numbers throughout the board.

“I think right now we’re all stuck in the same boat of being full,” stated Melanie Bennett, director of animal providers for the West Valley City Animal Shelter. “In the last few years, we’ve been able to move things so fast and this year, all the brakes are on.”

She added, “It’s kind of funny because when COVID hit and everybody was home, we were actually pulling from other shelters because we were so empty. … I don’t know why, everything started to open up and we can’t get them home, we can’t get people to adopt.”

Why are there so many animals?

It’s laborious to pin the problem on a single perpetrator, however animal advocates level to the COVID-19 pandemic as a major issue.

Nearly 1 in 5 households welcomed a canine or cat in the course of the first yr of the pandemic, in keeping with a 2021 report by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. The report stated it discovered no proof of those pandemic pets resulting in a nationwide surge in proprietor surrenders, however the impacts of the pandemic don’t finish there.

At the identical time that tens of millions of Americans had been in search of the corporate of a brand new pet, veterinarians, trainers and doggy day cares had been compelled to cut back their operations. The result’s a technology of pets who lack conventional coaching and could also be extra vulnerable to appearing out when careworn or confused.

With the so-called “return to normalcy,” plenty of canines have suffered from separation anxiousness after being left alone for the primary time, Laws stated.

“When everybody got to go back to work, the dogs didn’t understand what was going on and they started getting separation anxiety, which in turn caused them to be a little destructive, or they would escape the yard and whine and cry all the time,” she stated. “So people were getting a little frustrated with that, and they would bring them to the shelter.”

Even intentional pregnancies can spiral uncontrolled, leaving homeowners no alternative however to give up litters to shelters or give them to associates or household.

“People will post on Facebook sites and say, ‘Hey, I would like my cat to have a litter of kittens so my children can experience the miracle of birth,’ but then they have no plan for what happens after,” Gitlin stated. “A lot of times those kittens get adopted to people who do similar things, and the cycle just perpetuates.”

Shelters sterilize and microchip animals for identification, however they’ll’t all the time sustain with the fixed move out and in.

“The weird part is, we adopt everything out sterilized and microchipped, but everything coming in the back isn’t,” Bennett stated. “We don’t know what’s going on there.”

Generally, medical prices stay one of the crucial costly features of pet possession, and rising inflation could make paying for a vet much more burdensome for some homeowners. Veterinarians are additionally in brief provide, forcing homeowners to attend weeks or months for necessary medical care, in keeping with Gitlin.

“We actually have a really high rate of burnout for veterinarians, because it’s a really freaking hard profession to be in,” she stated. “A lot of people are waiting until issues become emergencies.”

Research backs up the issue of the job — a 2018 examine discovered that veterinarians are as much as 3.5 occasions extra more likely to die by suicide than members of the final inhabitants.

Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News

What’s subsequent?

In no-kill shelters and rescues, animal caretakers are adamant that they’ll do no matter it takes to take care of surrendered or deserted animals.

“I wouldn’t turn them down,” Laws stated, when requested how she would deal with the arrival of extra animals than the shelter is supplied for. “We will make sure we find them a home or find them a rescue.”

Bennett feels the identical means, even when it means transferring animals to different shelters outdoors of Utah. Shelters can use smaller transport kennels to supply overflow house, however fortunately, it hasn’t come to that but, Laws stated.

But the present mannequin of counting on well-meaning volunteers and adopters is seen as untenable in the long run. Donations of cash or discounted providers solely go up to now, and “It’s not a problem that’s going to get solved by putting weight on individuals,” Gitlin stated.

She wish to see the federal government step up by offering extra sponsored veterinary care, however isn’t optimistic after the Legislature lately did not move a invoice to stop cities from regulating “puppy mills” and different controversial practices. The invoice was handed by lawmakers within the Utah House however stalled within the Senate.

“They were trying to get rid of being able to ban those things because they got kind of annoyed that the ‘animal welfare people are encroaching on our rights,’” Gitlin stated. “It’ll be great if they wanted to allocate money for affordable fixes, I don’t know if that’s something they’re willing to do.”

For now, shelters are left to depend on the patchwork of volunteers, donations and — maybe most significantly — those that are prepared to supply discounted fixes and different medical providers, typically at their very own expense.

“They’re (expletive) saints,” Gitlin stated. “They just do it because they love the animals.”

Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News