Abandoned pets throughout the country need new donors and adoptive owners to replace previous donors and adoptive owners who have stopped helping animal shelters and rescues because of their own financial difficulties.
In states clobbered by foreclosures like Florida, California, Arizona and Nevada, pet shelters and rescue organizations have been facing various challenges such as significant increases in pets being brought in by families facing foreclosures and financial difficulties, sharp drops in funding and donations and increased costs of pet foods, medications and utilities.
Shelters and rescues are also struggling from lack of volunteers in the midst of big increases in pets being cared for. Previous volunteers had to cancel their commitments to the shelters because they need to take additional jobs to save their houses or to make ends meet.
Financial difficulties are also the reasons for the low number of people adopting pets from the shelters and the rising number of pet owners asking for free pet foods.
According to officers of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, animal rescues are organizations that rescue abandoned pets and then put them up for adoption. They usually rely on grants, donations and volunteers to carry out their operations and typically do not practice euthanasia on their animals.
Animal shelters, meanwhile, are facilities funded by cities or counties to care for abandoned animals or pets that are brought in. These facilities typically pay their employees and usually have euthanasia policies.
While many shelters have been able to operate with less funds, some shelters have closed and have moved their animals to other shelters that are still operating in their areas. Others are struggling from various unpaid bills such as utility and veterinary bills.
At Daphneyland, a rescue for basset hounds in Acton, California, donations have fallen by about 40 percent, causing the rescue facility to fall behind on its electricity payments. As of the first week of November, the shelter owed the electric company $7,500.
Dawn Smith, founder of Daphneyland, added that the rescue facility is in default on its mortgage loan by about 45 days. But she explained that she has been prioritizing the payments of food and veterinary bills.
According to ASPCA executive Stephen Zawistowski, there had been about one to two million abandoned pets since December 2007, but he said that there had been progress over the past 20 in the reduction of euthanasia rates across the country.
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