Foreclosures Compel Abandonment of Man’s Best Friends

Posted in Foreclosed Homes, October 13th, 2008 |

Foreclosures are compelling Man to abandon his best friends – his pets. Pets are either left behind chained or jailed inside vacant foreclosed houses or they are dumped on the roadsides. Some are taken to the shelters. Those really fortunate are killed off bringing an end to its misery for having trusted Man.

There are innumerable stories pouring in about how foreclosures are affecting our furry friends. In the Denver Post it was reported that Paula Harding of Greeley had to shoot her 15-year-old pet dog because she could no longer afford its medicines. The dog required anti-anxiety pills. The Humane Society undertakes euthanasia for $35 but Harding has been held up by court with a bond of $5,000! In these desperate times a new term has been born – foreclosure-pet.

Nobody really knows what kind of financial hardship Paula Harding has been facing. There is nothing new about using a gun to put an animal to sleep. It is not outdated either. But to city people who do not know about life in the open in Montana or the distant farms of North Dakota, the killing sounds cruel and above all loud. The police came upon a sobbing and distraught Harding after she had buried her pet. Most probably she had reached the end of the road and had no other alternative.

The case of Harding is not an isolated one. Americans are introspecting and cutting back on a lot of things in their life style. Its meaning differ from person to person. Some are cycling to work, others are not eating out and for another lot the change is more dramatic like the getting rid of pets. As inflation and foreclosures gallop the price of food for the pet and vet care are also spiraling.

Some cities like Albuquerque are trying to stop the abandonment of pets by foreclosure victims. Petco Animal Supplies has come forward with the donation of two tons of food for pets each month to The Storehouse. The latter is an organization in Albuquerque that helps those with limited income with clothing and goods. The taxpayer will not have to suffer anything for small substantial measures like these. It is truly horrifying that one has to make a choice between pets and family members. After all pets are members of the family. Petco Foundation is setting up a programme that will grant $5,000 to various shelters for training and caring for abandoned foreclosure pets.