Animal shelters struggle as many pets adopted during pandemic are returned

Amna Nawaz:

Rescue shelters are feeling the pressure these days, too many potential pets, not enough people adopting them. Inflation has made owning and caring for a pet more expensive, leaving some owners struggling to afford rising costs.

Our deputy senior producer of national affairs, Courtney Norris, and associate producer Dorothy Hastings have this story.

Courtney Norris:

America's animal shelters are in crisis. Many are at capacity and understaffed, with adoptions lagging.

In fact, animals are sitting in shelters for longer stints of time than they have in four years. At the Humane Rescue Alliance in Washington, D.C., CEO Lisa LaFontaine has seen a dramatic decrease in adoptions over the last three years. Our

Lisa LaFontaine, CEO, Humane Rescue Alliance:

intake of animals is up 4 percent, but our adoptions of animals are down 10 person.

Courtney Norris:

And, like many other shelters, Lisa LaFontaine has seen some owners return dogs, cats and even bunnies. She's had to get creative to ensure pets don't come back here.

Lisa LaFontaine:

If your animal has a minor medical condition and you can't get a vet appointment or can't afford it, you can bring the animal to us. We have wonderful — a wonderful hospital here. And our doctors will treat your pet and you can pick them back up.

And, last year, we were able to keep 642 animals with their people with the families who already love them.

Courtney Norris:

Roughly two animals currently await adoption at the Humane Rescue Alliance, like this dog, MacCabe (ph), who thought our microphone was his new chew toy.

At a recent adoption event they hosted, Taylor and her boyfriend, Nicholas, welcomed the newest member of their family.

Taylor Evans, New Dog Owner:

I work from home, so that makes a huge difference. Yes, I feel like we can make sure that she feels comfortable and just be around all the time, which we — I just love that.

Courtney Norris:

But many Americans are returning to the office, making it a difficult time to own a pet; 23 million us households adopted a pet during the pandemic.

But, as inflation continues to squeeze the wallets of Americans, rescue shelters and organizations are tasked not only with getting more animals into homes, but keeping them there. And it's a national problem. According to a recent Forbes survey, 44 percent of pet owners in the past year have had to pull out their credit card to pay for their pets' expensive.

Matt Schulz, Chief Credit Analyst, Lending Tree:

There's no question that pet ownership is getting more and more expensive, and some folks on the lower end of the income spectrum are just going to get priced out.

Courtney Norris:

Matt Schulz is chief credit analyst at Lending Tree. According to one of their surveys last fall, a quarter of owners are struggling to afford the cost of their pet amid inflation, and nearly one in four have taken on debt from pet care.

And less populated areas are hit even harder. In Dumfries, Virginia, an hour outside of D.C., Sherry Turner runs the Humane Society of Northern Virginia. Lately, the requests from owners looking to rehome pets is exceeding the number of adopters. This pup, Ellie, was recently surrendered. Her owner could not afford to pay for her medical needs.

Sherry Turner, Humane Society of Northern Virginia: Rescues are expected or shelters are expected to go and pick up that slack and pay for whatever wasn't done medically and to work with the trainee, just so that they can be adoptable.

Those are some of the impacts that we see and we feel.

Courtney Norris:

Virginia-based rescue Lucky Dog has no shelter. They partner with organizations like PetSmart to host adoption events.

Lucky Dog director Mirah Horowitz has seen some adopters struggle.

Mirah Horowitz, Lucky Dog Animal Rescue:

Maybe they have lost their job or something has happened and they're asking us to take the animal back. We always try to help people find a solution before we actually do take the animal back.

But, sometimes, there's just, unfortunately, no other thing they can do.

Courtney Norris:

For Horowitz, the goal is to keep animals out of kill shelters. And the stakes are high. In 2021, for the first time in five years, the number of dogs and cats euthanized in the U.S. actually increased. And that trend continued last year.

But, despite the setbacks, shelters and rescues continue to save countless lives, volunteering their time to give these furry friends a new beginning.

For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Courtney Norris.

Amna Nawaz:

It's enough to make you want to bring another dog into your home.

Just kidding, honey.

And you can learn more about those pets and the challenges animal shelters are facing online at PBS.org/NewsHour.