The Need for Pets is Contagious

The Need for Pets is Contagious

As the coronavirus had taken over many people were sitting bored in their homes. People that didn’t have others to socialize with while being quarantined in their house looked for a different option. This option is getting a furry friend to keep them company, practically like another human but better in my opinion. Because of this many shelters, rescues and breeders have said that their adoptions have spiked higher than ever.

“Within my circle of friends, there are at least five people who have gotten a puppy,” says Tess Karaskevicus, a schoolteacher from Springfield, Va., whose boxer puppy, Koda, joined her family on May 28. “It’s been great. We’ve been having friends come over to play with the puppy while we socially distance. They’re getting a puppy dosage of happiness. It’s been really amazing,” she also said.

With such high demand some rescues were even reporting dozens of applications for the same dog which put them in a tough situation of who the dog will fit best with. The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Los Angeles, a nonprofit shelter, adoptions were double their usual rate in late June, with 10 or 13 adoptions a day, president Madeline Bernstein said. A waiting list had formed for certain types of dogs, and for puppies in general. On the other side of the country, at Animal Care Centers of NYC, about 25 percent of the people who agreed to take in foster dogs temporarily at the start of the pandemic had adopted them permanently by late June. Usually, that foster-turned-adopter figure is 10 percent, said Katy Hansen, director of marketing and communications.

This is important because it’s helping the shelters, rescues and breeders around us have business. This is causing the numbers of animals in shelters to decrease causing for less animals to need to be put down because of overcrowding of shelters. But this also could imply that there might be more cases of abuse or neglect and having animals on the streets from people not wanting the animal anymore. But just because it was at a spike over quarantine doesn’t mean that you can’t adopt an animal now. There are many local shelters like Pets Come First and Centre County PAWS that have many animals in need of homes.