Faltering economy, foundering pets
How the tanking economy is overwhelming animal shelters (and those in Baltimore, by the way, are no exception) was the subject of an article in yesterday's Boston Herald.
"Owners struggling to pay for gas, food and housing," the article points out, "can no longer afford their best friends."
Pets are being dropped off, or just abandoned on the streets, at three times the rate of last year in Boston, and the ensuing lack of space in shelters will almost certainly translate into a death sentence for many of those.
“It’s a pressure cooker to get these animals homes,” said Brian Adams, spokesman for the The Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. “We’re a last resort for these animals. . . . We’re a large facility, (but) it does tax our resources greatly ... We’re going to run out of space.”
Similar reports are coming in from across the country, as cash-strapped pet owners are being forced to give up their homes, then finding difficulties finding pet-friendly new accomodations.
Donna Delviscovo of Medford was forced to give up her 13-year-old Labrador-golden retriever Lady when she lost her house in March. “She was my baby. It was like losing a child," she said.
At one stage, she slept for two nights in her car with Lady while she waited for it to be adopted by a new family through an area pet rescue.
Comments
I've been thinking about this--lots. I'm still in Paris, and yesterday I saw a homeless woman and dog sharing a meager meal on a very prosperous street here. The operative word there was "share." I had the feeling they would be sharing their last crust, and that neither would ever be willingly parted from the other.
About six weeks ago, my husband and I were attending a trade show at the convention center in Baltimore. During a break we were seated on a wall outside. A couple approached us--a man and woman. They weren't drunk or on anything; they looked "respectable." (Whatever that is.) The man explained that they had come to Baltimore after losing job and home, in search of work that didn't materialize. They were on the streets, and you could tell they weren't used to it. They asked us if we knew of any place--any shelter at all--where they could go and be together. Each was terrified of being separated, of what might happen to the other. My husband and I knew where a men's shelter was, and we knew where a women's shelter was, but we didn't have a clue what happens to couples. I suspect they're supposed just to accept being torn apart. We sent them to a certain Catholic church we know about that helps the homeless, sometimes in defiance of the city's "better ideas." I hope they made it.
The point here is, why should human beings and dogs be torn asunder for the "crime" of losing everything in this terrible economy? The sad answer as I see it is that if we can callously tear apart married couples, then humans and their animal companions don't stand a snowball's chance in Hell.
There's something very wrong here, folks, and it's only going to get worse.
Posted by: Anne | July 13, 2008 3:09 PM