Abandoned pets bear brunt of foreclosure crisis

By Erik J. Martin for WebVet

Foreclosed houses are leaving pets homeless every day. Ask Evelyn Black, Realtor with RE/MAX Unlimited in Cincinnati, Ohio, how serious the foreclosure crisis is in the United States and she’ll pause, take a deep breath and tell you the horrific story of 62 cats she helped rescue last summer that were left to die inside a foreclosed home in Cincinnati.

Lacking food and water and living in deplorable squalor, these cats had reproduced and sickened in their own filth.

“I personally fostered four of the sickest baby kittens I’ve ever seen,” Black says. “A viral infection that affected almost all of the cats there had left them with severe upper respiratory infections and irreparable eye damage.”

Although these cats were very ill and starving, “we were able to rescue them, foster them out, promote fundraising activities, get veterinarians to nurse most of them back to health and get them adopted,” she said.

That story at least had a somewhat happy ending. Unfortunately, many pets abandoned on foreclosed properties aren’t so lucky – they’re discovered too late to be saved or end up being euthanized by local animal control agencies.

Foreclosure trends

Just how bad can the situation get? The Mortgage Bankers Association reports that approximately 4.2 million mortgages were either past due or in foreclosure at the end of 2007, and many analysts continue to predict rising foreclosure numbers throughout 2008. Based on the estimate that more than 71 million households have pets, the Denver, Colo.-based American Humane Association estimates that up to 1.25 million pets may be at risk due to foreclosures.

Betsy Saul, co-founder of petfinder.com – an online searchable database of pets needing homes and adoption organizations – says she has received feedback from hundreds of her shelter members that “they are overwhelmed and overcrowded right now. For the last couple of months, there has definitely been a surge of people who have had to give up their pets because they are moving.”

To make matters worse, a March 2008 petfinder.com survey revealed that 57 percent of shelter and rescue group respondents have had a drop in adoptions since the downturn in the economy over the last year, making it harder than ever to find new homes for foreclosure-forsaken pets.

Not a new problem

Pet desertion is not a new problem caused only by the sub-prime mortgage fallout and current foreclosure wave, according to Connie Mogull, real estate agent at Weichert Realtors in Rye, N.Y., and past president of the Board of Directors of the New Rochelle Humane Society, New Rochelle, N.Y. “There have always been people callous enough to move away and leave their pet chained in the yard or abandoned in the house, and unfortunately, this practice will continue,” she said.

“These days, so many individuals are living on credit to buy luxury goods, purchasing homes beyond their legitimate means and feeling little compunction about declaring bankruptcy or any other consequence that’s a direct result of the improper management of their lives,” said Heather Harkins, a pet rescue volunteer in Cincinnati. “It comes as no surprise to me how readily people let their animals be casualties when the going gets uncomfortable. How do they rationalize it? Any way they want to.”

Saul says most pet owners with foreclosures looming over their heads are actually quite distraught, sad and apologetic that they have to give up their pet.

“Unfortunately, some people are so overwhelmed by the impending loss of their home that they do not take steps to find a temporary or permanent new home for their pet – until it is too late,” Saul said.

'There are always options'

Abandoning a pet is illegal in many communities, according to SPCA International, but animal cruelty charges vary in different cities and counties and experts say these laws are almost never enforced.

“Foreclosure is not something that happens overnight,” said Ben Lehrer, president of Kitten Rescue, a Los Angeles, Calif.-based cat rescue group. “A responsible pet owner who is facing the prospect of foreclosure should use the time they have to try and find a temporary or permanent home for their pet. There are always options.”

These include asking friends, neighbors or loved ones to adopt or temporarily care for the animal or, as a last resort, surrendering the pet to a local animal shelter, which can result in adoption or euthanasia.

Expecting a rescue group to take the animal is often unrealistic, “as they tend to be perpetually stretched to the limits with homeless and abandoned animals,” Lehrer said. “But many groups will partner with individuals to help them place their animals, which can be helpful as it provides the owner with exposure to a much larger base of potential adopters.”

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Article last reviewed - 5/12/2008

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