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As capitalism implodes, a related item in today’s Denver Post caught my eye. Apparently, Greeley resident Paula Harding could no longer afford the vet bills for her sick 15-year-old dog and, after trying OD him on anti-anxiety pills, she shot him. (Ironically, The Humane Society offers euthanasia starting at $35 and Harding is being held on a $5,000 bond.) This sad story is yet another facet in this desperate financial crisis and a new term is born: "foreclosure pet."
The cold facts of this case sound cruel but the fact is, none of us knows what kind of financial hardship Ms. Harding faced. The reality is, putting a sick animal down via firearms is not a new method, nor is it outdated. But, to those of us who do not live in the wilds of Montana or the remote farms of North Dakota, it seems cold, harsh and well, ... loud. When police arrived, Harding was sobbing and highly distraught after burying the animal in a grave she had dug at the side of her house. I imagine she was at the end of her rope and saw no other solution.
Unfortunately, Harding is not alone in her predicament. As Americans look to scale back, we are taking a long hard look at our lifestyles and making painful cuts. For some that means riding a bike to work, for others it means more meals at home but for many, the changes are going to be more dramatic, such as getting rid of the family pet. As the cost of human food and healthcare rises - guess what? The same thing is happening to pet food and vet care.
Today, the Associated Press reported that the city of Albuquerque is trying to prevent pets from being abandoned by those having a tough time making ends meet. Petco Animal Supplies Inc., through its foundation, will donate two tons of pet food each month to The Storehouse, an Albuquerque organization that helps low-income people with such things as clothing and household goods. Cost to taxpayers? Zero.
Albuquerque's mayor, Martin Chavez, had read a news item about the gnarly economic mess forcing people to give up their pets. Mayor Chavez imagined folks being forced to make "those terrible choices" between feeding their pet or feeding themselves and created this solution.
Jeanine Patterson, director of the city's animal welfare department, said, "We're trying to keep people from having to give up that animal. ... They should be lifelong members of the family." As the AP reported:
Petco Foundation, the charity arm of Petco, said this summer it was establishing a national program to provide up to $5,000 in grants to shelters to train, care for or find new homes for pets abandoned during the foreclosure crisis. The program also was designed to supply food to disadvantaged homeowners who want to keep their animals.
So, not only is that beautiful SUV in the driveway in danger of being offloaded, so is Fluffy. For example, Sacramento, which ranks fifth in national foreclosure numbers, saw a 130 percent spike in pet abandonment from September to December 2007 compared with the same time span in 2006. Meanwhile, animal shelters across the country face their own crisis: The number of abandoned pets is increasing while donations and adoptions are decreasing. (For posting an animal for adoption or to rescue a pet, a great place to start is Petfinder.com.)
Scout, a two-year-old pit bull in Eugene, Oregon, is another foreclosure pet whose owners considered euthanizing the dog before the Luv-a-Bull Pit Bull Rescue and Sanctuary stepped in. Now, Scout spends her days at the 55-acre sanctuary while awaiting adoption. She's joined by other dogs, including two puppies, that are also victims of the bad economy. (They were abandoned in a park because their owner couldn't afford to care for them.) "We get 10 to 15 e-mails daily from people forced to give up their pets because they've lost their homes," said Patrick Leiser, a volunteer with Luv-a-Bull.
The real estate site, US REO Properties, which sounds dry and dull, is actually very frank about the problem in their post, "Foreclosures Affecting Pets":
"Foreclosures are gobbling up houses and destroying families. It is not just about facts, figures and statistics but the tears of individuals. One of the worst affected are the pets – dumb sufferers of
