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Inland News Today
December 10, 2009
ELKHART, IN--Each day at five, staff members of the Humane Society
of Elkhart County close the animal shelter and hold a meeting. And each
day, like clockwork, they begin hearing a “thump, thump, thump” from
outside.
That is the sound of pets being abandoned by owners who either do not want them
or cannot care for them anymore.
Among the recent arrivals left in “drop boxes”, kennels that are
accessible through doors on the outside of the facility, are Sweet Pea, a Chihuahua
being nursed back to health from near starvation, a cocker spaniel named Cookie
and a “family” of three pets left together, a dog, a cat and rat.
These animals add to the usual traffic of strays, rabid raccoons and animals
rescued from abuse. When the drop boxes are full, the Humane Society finds pets
tied up at the door, or, as was the case with a domesticated ferret, running
around in the parking lot. Recently a whole litter of kittens was left in the
Humane Society dumpster.
With as many as 600 or 700 animals arriving each month, sometimes 30 animals
in a single day, the facility, which has space for only 266, is in crisis mode.
'Unsavory position'
The numbers are “staggering” and resources are stretched, said Anne
Reel, the Humane Society of Elkhart County’s executive director.
“Since the economy has been like this, even rescuers have been down,” she
said, referring to nonprofits that provide temporary homes until animals can
be adopted. “(Now) we’re in the unsavory position of having to euthanize
because we just can’t turn animals around fast enough.”
In one month alone, the shelter had to euthanize 600 animals, she said, which
is roughly three times the number in a normal month.
The Humane Society staff believes the poor economy is behind the high rate
of abandonment, forcing people to give up pets when they run out of money to
feed them or lose their homes and move into apartments or in with relatives.
It’s
impossible to know for sure because many people drop off their pets anonymously
in the drop boxes and don’t fill out the forms that would help the Humane
Society staff understand the animal’s health background and breeding.
Since October 2008, the shelter has handled 5,783 animals, 42 percent of which
were abandoned anonymously. (Source: MSNBC) |
