With the economic “recession” in a steady downward black spiral, loans defaulting, and homes foreclosing with the crash of the housing market a number of secondary effects are laying into the less represented segment of our population: our pets. While the big banks like Bear Sterns—and soon possibly General Motors—may be getting their bailouts, few are available to bail out animals left behind when a family loses their home.
Sometimes it’s the result of nowhere else to go. The family living there simply cannot support their animals. They don’t know who to turn to, and they’re moving into an apartment (or a worse fate) where they cannot take their pets.
The newly coined term for these hapless economic victims of the housing crisis has been: Foreclosure Pets. The dispossessed.
How can we help save pets abandoned due to foreclosures?
If there is a family in your neighborhood who have recently had their home foreclosed on, or are moving, and you know that they have pets and fear that they might leave them behind; or worse, you know that the family has gone but discover their pets remain, there are still things you can do to help:
- Call a local shelter or humane society and ask them for information on how to assist abandoned pets—many will send someone out to check on them.
- Many real estate agents have access to foreclosed homes if they’re on the market; many will happily check it for abandoned pets.
- Be neighborly, simply knowing the situation and offering to help the family who are moving with regards to the displacement of their pets (giving them rescue information or making sure they’re going with) may reduce the chances of them being abandoned.
Most people simply don’t understand the resources that are available to them or don’t have the right mind to deal with their pets when they’re being pushed out of their homes. This leads to feral animals and, in the cases of pets left inside the home, dehydration, starvation, and death.
For people who live in Metro Phoenix, Arizona
PETS 911 is based out of Scottsdale, Arizona so we’re keenly aware of an effort in our area to help deal with the mounting foreclosure pets predicament. A group of real estate agents, seeing that the abandonment of pets from repossessed homes had gone beyond the pale, put together a small coalition and rescue to help with this issue.
If you are facing a housing crisis, must move and cannot take your beloved pets, or know of a house that may have abandoned pets: give a visit to Lost Our Home.
The housing crisis and economic recession is far from over, so we may be seeing more of these happening in the future. The Animal Crossroads blog will try our best to highlight rescue organizations working to alleviate this growing problem.