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Pet abandonment problem growing

Klint Lowry/SUNCOAST

More of the cages at the Suncoast Animal League, such as the one in which orange tabby Ginger resides, are bearing signs declaring "My owner couldn't keep me." While Ginger's owners properly surrendered her, more and more people are anonymously abandoning their dogs and cats.

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By KLINT LOWRY | The Suncoast News

Published: July 17, 2009

Updated:

As the recession drags on, more and more people are confronting lifestyle changes they would have never considered not long ago. Some households are even finding it necessary to jettison "one of the family," surrendering pets they can no longer afford.

But Rick Chaboudy, executive director of the Suncoast Animal League, a locally based nonprofit, no-kill animal rescue agency, is seeing a more disturbing trend - people who are simply abandoning their pets.

"There are probably two or three times a week when we will come in and there's a box of kittens or a mother and kittens at the doorstep," he said. Worse than that though, he added, others are leaving their pets in boxes on street corners, in parking lots and at churches, presumably hoping some Good Samaritan will take them in.

"We just had (one) over on Gunn Highway, there were eight puppies about 8 weeks old," Chaboudy said. "They were in boxes; the people had used duct tape to tape up the boxes. They had dropped them off in a veterinarian's parking lot, but it's only 25 feet from Gunn Highway."

The owner had even taken the time to write the names of the puppies on the boxes. It's a common combination of caring and thoughtlessness that perplexes and frustrates the people who run pet shelters. As hard as it might be, Chaboudy said, owners need to take the time and responsibility to talk to someone one-on-one. It's a message echoed at animal shelters throughout the area.

"We're not here to sit and judge you," said Tolanda Yates, public relations coordinator for SPCA Tampa Bay, in Largo. "We don't hassle people; we don't want them to be embarrassed."

Just recently, Yates said, a couple came into the SPCA with three dogs. They explained how they loved their pets but their house had been foreclosed on and they had to move and couldn't keep them anymore.

"You could see, they probably swallowed deeply before they came in," Yates said. Like so many cases they see, the couple was dealing with both the stress over their situation, compounded by the anguish of parting with their pets.

Yates and Chaboudy could only speculate on what motivates people to abandon their pets rather than bring them into a shelter.

For Greg Andrews, operations manager of the Pinellas County Animal Services shelter, in Largo, he has a pretty good idea why many people avoid bringing their pets to his facility - the impression that the county shelter euthanizes any animal it has for more than a few days.

That isn't true, Andrews said. Pets without tags or an ID microchip implant are held for five days. Those with ID are held for 10. After that, they undergo a veterinary examination. If they are healthy and friendly, they are not put down but instead are put up for adoption.

"We work hard at that," Andrews said, adding people need to remember that the county shelter, like other animal agencies in the area are staffed with people who are dedicated to placing pets. If someone absolutely doesn't want to come in and talk about it, the county shelter has a night depository where people can drop off their pets.

The aim of all shelters is find homes for animals, Chaboudy said, and the best option is to keep them in the homes they're in. If owners come in and discuss their situations, they might discover there's more help available than they realized.

"Can we provide you food, litter; can we do something temporarily until you get back on your feet?" Chaboudy said. "Sometimes when you sit down and talk to people you can find that there's a different avenue than just giving up the animal.

"Even if we have to take the animal, at least to find out what the animal's name is, its medical history, to know its likes and dislikes, that makes it that much more adoptable," he said.

To contact the Suncoast Animal League call 727-786-1330 or visit http://suncoastanimalleague.org. For more information on the Pinellas County Animal Services shelter, call 727-582-2600 or visit www.pinellascounty.org/animalservices/.

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