Shelters Fear That Many Pandemic Pets Will Lose Their Homes

Pet adoption surged during the COVID-19 pandemic, but now some of those animals are likely to be returned to shelters.

As the economy and many people return to on-site work, some are concluding that they don’t have time for their pets, the New York Post reports.

Penny Smith-Berk of Rescue Right in Bedford, NY, was quoted saying: “People can be very selfish. … People like me are left to pick up the slack, because quite a few people throw up their hands and say, ‘I can’t do this.'”

Fox 35 in Orlando reports that shelters across the U.S. “are seeing higher than average rates of returns.”

Aron Jones, executive director of Moms and Mutts Colorado Rescue, was quoted saying that “for the past four months, we have had an extreme number of returns.”

As people return to their routines, “the dogs are not necessarily fitting into their lifestyles, and they are returning them instead of trying to make adjustments to keep their dog now that the world is opening up,” Jones said, according to KDVR-TV.

Read more at the New York Post