Pets feeling families’ economic pinch
Posted on Monday, May 26, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/adg/News/226894/
ROGERS — Evidence of financial hard times in the home construction industry has spread from accountants ’ offices to animal shelters.
Animal control officers in several Northwest Arkansas cities are reporting an increase in the intake of well-trained, purebred dogs as cash-strapped homeowners slash items from their household budgets.
“It’s not behavioral stuff. It’s because they can’t afford to keep them,” said Rhonda Di-Basilio, director of the Rogers Animal Shelter.
And there’s anecdotal evidence of owners of foreclosed homes leaving their pets behind.
Last year, the Rogers shelter teamed with animal control officers to remove two animals from abandoned homes. In the first four months of 2008, they’ve seized five dogs left behind in uninhabited homes.
Rogers code enforcement officer Rick Riedesel discovered the body of a golden retriever last week when he was called to inspect the overgrown yard of a foreclosed home at 11 th and Oak streets. After scratching at the door of a locked room, the animal died of starvation, Riedesel said.
Officers later found a full bag of dog food in another room, DiBasilio said.
“I think a lot of people think if they leave the dog, someone will pick it up and feed it,” she said. “If you lock a dog up in a house and you don’t come back, to me it’s just neglect and abuse.”
Animal control officers typically find out about neglected animals from concerned neighbors. The shelter works with the city attorney’s office to seize the animals and cite owners with misdemeanor offenses under the state’s animal cruelty statute.
Springdale’s animal shelter has seen an increase in expensive pure-bred dogs that were purchased as puppies for hundreds of dollars, said Sam Goade, Springdale’s director of public works.
Owners surrender the animals because they can’t afford to maintain them or they are moving to an apartment where animals aren’t allowed.
Donna Miles, director of the Bella Vista Animal Shelter, said the downturn in the economy is evident in the center’s kennels.
Fifty-seven animals were taken in by the shelter in April, an increase of 17 compared with a year ago.
The shelter took in a 10-yearold pug last week after neighbors reported it abandoned in a carport without food or water for six days. The shelter is taking in fewer unruly, mixed-breed stray puppies and more welltrained, adult dogs from families in financial hard times, Miles said.
To contact this reporter: eblad@arkansasonline. com