In hard times, owners surrender pets

Anyone that tells you we're not in a recession is simply ignorant. The following article from today's Nashville Tennessean newspaper is just ONE example of what's happening around the country. People are so economically destroyed they're doing something I find unfathomable - abandoning the pets they love. This is horrible! I URGE anyone that can adopt a pet from a shelter to do so, or Donate to a shelter. We're donating to shelters to try and help. I've noticed even 10 year old dogs being given up! These dogs are in the Twilight of their lives- this is like giving up an elderly person to a jail, or condemning them to death in their old age, despite being in good health! I'm just sick over this. Please help! - Call your local shelters, adopt or donate. - Rob
(LEFT: The owners of this Siberian husky mix left him with Metro Animal Care and Control because they could no longer afford to keep him. Credit: Tennessean newspaper)
Shelters euthanize record numbers
By RACHEL STULTS , Nashville Tennessean Newspaper Staff Writer
Pet owners in Nashville are increasingly giving up their pets to shelters, and animal control officials say the slumping economy is to blame.
Dozens of animals have been left on chains in backyards, and a few have been found in foreclosed homes, according to officials. Others are dumped in remote areas or on dead-end streets and left to roam.
This month alone, Metro Animal Care and Control has seen record numbers of owner-surrendered pets, defined as pets whose owners leave them at the shelter. This number has for the first time overtaken the number of stray dogs and cats that are found or dropped off.
Summer is always a busy time for shelters, but June's spike, especially in owner surrenders, means adoptions can't keep up and animals are being put to death at record levels each day.
The number of animals in Metro that have been euthanized in June has already reached more than 1,100 — nearly 300 more than at this time last year.
"People are struggling," said Bradley Greer, a shelter supervisor who is also responsible for euthanizing most of the animals and sometimes puts to sleep 60 a day. "Sometimes you have to put yourself in that position where it's either feed my pet or feed my child."
Billy Biggs, field operation supervisor at Metro Animal Care and Control, saw the proof again this week.
An owner had listed the reason for giving up a young Siberian husky. The form read: "Gas prices went up and food is too high." It's a familiar story Biggs has heard in recent weeks, as the number of pets left at the shelter has skyrocketed to more than 1,200 this month.

FULL STORY: http://tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080628/NEWS01/806280350/-1/NLETTER01&source=nletter-news