Shelters and animal welfare organizations in B.C. say they are seeing a huge surge in the number of cats, dogs and other animals given up for adoption.
They say owners are telling them that the rising cost of living means people just can’t make ends meet while feeding and caring for an animal.
Jesse Adams, executive director and co-founder, has been running Raincoast Dog Rescue Society on Vancouver Island for the last nine years.
“In the last year, we have seen the largest amount of owner surrenders that we’ve ever seen,” he told Global News. “And in my 16 years of work and rescue it’s become very overwhelming for shelters and rescues to the point that some are now shutting down.”
Adams said he receives about five to 10 calls every day from people calling him to surrender their animals for various reasons. It has become so bad that Raincoast has not taken in any animals in the past two months, only accepting emergencies from rural communities.
“We simply cannot handle that level of intake. And no rescue or shelter really can. And it’s only progressively getting worse, which is very concerning. Five to 10 calls a day since the middle of 2022.”
Adams said he thinks the rising cost of everything, from food to gas to housing, is forcing people to give up their pets.
However, he wishes people would think about their choice before adopting an animal and accept that it is a lifelong commitment.
“It really comes upon the individual person, regardless of what’s happening in today’s world, to make their own independent, responsible decision,” he added. “And think about that before they move forward in taking on a living being such as a dog, cat, or a horse and the commitment that really takes.”
Penny Stone, the executive director of the Victoria Humane Society, described a similar situation as “overwhelming” and said they are seeing the same issues of people wanting to surrender their animals.
“It’s unfortunate that every single day we’re getting calls to take in more dogs and cats,” she said. “And the reality is there’s not enough room. We have over 200 dogs and over 200 cats in care at this time. They’re all in foster homes. So it’s crazy being able to maintain that and take care of them all.”
Stone said they know people adopted animals during COVID when they were working at home but didn’t take into account what might happen with the animals when they returned to work outside the home.
She also said another issue is one of the pop-up breeders.
“I’m talking about people who could want to make a quick buck because everybody wanted a puppy. So they made a lot of money, so their friends started doing it and their friends started doing it. And now you’re seeing those breeders are surrendering as dog litters that are like six and eight months old because they haven’t been able to find them homes and now they’re out of control.”
Stone added their inability to travel to remote communities during COVID and spay and neuter the animals means the population in those rural areas has just exploded.
“We’re kind of back 20 years in animal welfare,” she said. “And for us, that’s really sad because we worked so hard to get to the point where, you know, things were under control and now you’re seeing a lot of dogs are being euthanized because there’s no place for them to go. So it’s a really sad state.”
Stone said they are trying to take in as many animals as possible, advise people where to get a companion and to set up more spay and neuter clinics in rural areas.