PALM HARBOR, Fla. — On National Pet Day, it’s easy to scroll through social media and enjoy all the adorable photos. But as COVID-19 coronavirus continues to ravage the economy, pets are starting to feel more of the pain.
Suncoast Animal League in Palm Harbor, the Humane Society of Tampa Bay and others are starting to notice a trend this past week.
“What we are seeing is really an upswing in the amount of people surrendering animals since Wednesday, in particular dogs. I do think the financial crunch is starting to take a toll on people,” said Rick Chaboudy, the executive director and co-founder of Suncoast Animal League.
On Saturday, Chaboudy said they had one of the hardest surrenders they’ve had yet. Two of their famous “Lightning pups” born in 2018 and named after Tampa Bay Lightning players that got adopted together both got surrendered today after the owner became ill – not COVID-19 related – but the medical bills were too much.
“These are not people who are just dumping dogs on us. They have real problems and need real help. We’re getting 5-6 dogs a day getting surrendered,” Chaboudy said.
He says many of them are from elderly people who can no longer afford to keep their lifetime companions, tearfully separating from them. The Humane Society of Tampa Bay says they have seen an intake increase of 20 percent.
But with a silver lining: They have seen a huge bump in applications to foster animals – 300 right now. So as animals come in, they are keeping things level with the help of these volunteers. And they along with Manatee County Animal Services and Suncoast Animal League have been giving out free pet food to help ease the financial burden.
They also have one simple ask if you are now at home with more time on your hands.
“Some people are homebound and lonely and fostering a dog or cat is the perfect time to do something like that because you have more time to give and that’s all the animals are asking for,” Chaboudy said.
Almost all of the animal shelters and organizations have Facebook pages where you can apply to foster or adopt an animal.
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