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Animals shelter adoptions down, surrenders up

By CHUCK BALLARO / news@breezenewspapers.com - | Jul 20, 2022

Inflation is at 9 percent and the cost of rent has skyrocketed along with the price of food, utilities, gas and more.

The monetary impact has resulted in collateral damage — too many families are being forced to relinquish their pets.

And when that pet gets surrendered to an animal shelter, it can make for a very uncertain future since fewer people can now adopt or foster.

The challenge has impacted shelters nationwide with some saying this year has been one of the most difficult in a very long time.

Local animal shelters are certainly feeling the pain.

Liz McCauley at the Cape Coral Animal Shelter said the rental situation is causing a lot of distress.

“The biggest problem we’re seeing is that people are losing their homes and/or they’re having to move. If they’re renting and the house is being sold so they have to move and can’t find housing to take their pets or if they’re allowed to take their pets there’s a huge raise in their rent of a couple hundred dollars,” McCauley said.

McCauley said the situation is bad throughout Florida. Cape Coral has worked with The Redlands in Miami, which is a dumping ground for animals, McCauley said. There many animals being abandoned on the street or in agricultural areas, since their animal control services are packed.

“It’s especially bad for big dogs. Many of the HOAs here have breed or weight restrictions and that makes it more difficult,” McCauley said. “I come from Pennsylvania and we didn’t really have that, but they do here in the Cape. That makes it difficult for big dogs to get adopted.”

Brian Wierima, community relations coordinator at the Gulf Coast Humane Society, said adoptions are also down while surrenders are at or near an all-time high.

So far this year GCHS has had 1,140 adoptions which is significantly fewer than last year, Wierima said.

Mostly dogs are being adopted, but he has also seen problems getting larger dogs into homes. Cat adoptions have been steady.

“People want a pet, but they can’t have a dog because of housing. It’s changed so much in the last year. They’ll do cats because they’re small,” Wierima said. “Even before the housing crisis they were restrictive on the size of pets. Now, we have homeless people who couldn’t take care of their pets.”

Many pet-friendly homes are charging deposits, which could be $200, and a monthly fee of $20 to $35, Wierima said, adding some are charging $50 on DNA tests on dogs for breed restrictions.

“It’s becoming unaffordable to have a pet in a rental if they are pet friendly,” Wierima said.

The fostering situation is a little better, especially in the Cape which has done a good job coordinating foster care. Of course, they could always use more temporary homes.

At the Animal Refuge Center in North Fort Myers, the numbers are a bit different, with surrenders way down from last year, while adoptions are up for dogs, but down sharply for cats. At ARC, housing regulations have had some impact, but the age of the pet and whether they have special needs is also a factor. Last year at this time they had rehomed 38 dogs and 115 cats. This year they have done 49 dogs and 49 cats. The foster numbers have increased for cats, with 40, up from 25 at the start of the year. For dogs, it has remained steady, with around eight. There have been 38 surrenders, with 23 of them being strays, either feral or abandoned. Last year, there were more than 100.

Spokesman Rob Spicker said ARC did not change its adoption policies during the pandemic, expecting surrenders could become a problem.

“Once the pandemic eased, people who adopted and were at home when the pets were at home found it difficult to care for them when they went back to work,” Spicker said. “Our screening and vetting process worked because we aren’t seeing many surrenders or returns.”

ARC is a no-kill shelter and guarantees that if you adopt a pet and you don’t want it anymore or can’t care for it, they will take it back, Spicker said