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| LADY WAS NOT SURRENDERED. |
PET SURRENDERS
BY TOM GILLISPIE
It wasn’t what Chad Landingham wanted to do.
“It was an unfortunate situation,” the Kernersville resident said in early December. “At the beginning of (2022), we had to put our dog down.”
He got a pit bull-mix named Penelope in March to ease the loss of the dog. But family problems meant that Penelope was alone in a cage at least eight hours a day when Landingham went to work.
So in November he surrendered her to AARF in Winston-Salem.
“I’m a dog lover; I love dogs,” Landingham said. “I pampered Penelope, but it was too much to juggle, unfortunately.”
On the positive side, Landingham says he’s seen photos of Penelope with her new home. She looks well acclimated, he says, and he’s happy for her.
TOO MANY ANIMALS
Pet surrenders are a problem in Forsyth County and probably everywhere else.
Mark Neff, the executive director of the Forsyth Humane Society, says the organization took in 6,644 dogs and cats in 2018 and 6,269 in 2019. In 2020, the first coronavirus year, the total fell to 4,670. It eased back up to 5,534 in 2021, and it was “over 6,000 dogs and cats” in late November of 2022.
“At least we’re not at pre-pandemic numbers,” Neff said in early December.
“In 2022, the No. 1 reason (for pet surrenders) was housing,” he added. “The cost of housing has increased. The number of rental properties that accept pets has decreased, and for others, it’s the monthly fees for having pets.”
A large number of the animals in the Humane Society, he adds, are stray animals. And the number of surgeries, spaying and neutering, are not keeping up with the number of cats and dogs.
Neff points to a recent hoarding case of 73 dogs in Forsyth County. Within 24 hours, he said, 68 of these dogs, all pet surrenders, were in foster homes.
He says he and his family have fostered “over 200 cats and dogs” over the last 10 years. “We’ve taken in some challenging dogs and lots of sick kittens,” he said. He says they now have three cats and three dogs; asked if they’re rescue animals from the shelter, he said, “Most of them, yes.”
MORE SURRENDERS
In early December, AARF director Mitchell Currin said that they’re seeing higher numbers of pet surrenders than they ever have.
Part of the reason for that is that AARF moved from a small facility on Harvey Street to a 6,000-foot facility at 302 Thurston Street.
Even then, they don’t have enough room. AARF volunteer Chris McFadden says the organization had 39 requests for dog surrenders just the last week of November 2022; AARF took three of them.
Currin says the pandemic has been part of the problem. People adopted dogs and cats during the pandemic, when many people were working from home. As the pandemic eased a bit, many people went back to their external jobs, and the animals that were used to having their humans around most of the time were suddenly alone.
So some of them were taken to shelters.
One problem, of course, is money. According to a Nov. 4 article in the Winston-Salem Journal, the Forsyth Humane Society has notified the county that it will exit its contract to run the county animal shelter on Jan. 1. The Humane Society wants an annual increase from $600,000 to $1.85 million. The county wants a smaller increase.
In that Winston-Salem Journal story, Neff said that “you can reduce payroll expenses, you can reduce marketing expenses. But when you ask me to do that, I have to kill an animal to do that.”
Another problem, Currin says, is that feral cats have many litters of kittens. AARF won’t take the feral cats, but it could take the kittens. And there are maybe thousands of kittens out there.
Currin, who has been with AARF a little over two years, says that most of their cats are actually in foster homes, awaiting permanent homes.
“For us and other organizations; there are fewer (animals) going out the door,” he said. “We place animals in foster homes; currently, we have about 112 animals in our care, and we keep only a few cats on location. We have 23 cats (at the facility), and the rest are in foster homes.”
Currin says that more cats are adopted during the summer, but says dogs “are more consistent” throughout the year.
“Before (the pandemic), dogs were flying out the door,” says AARF’s McFadden, a former nurse and a volunteer with AARF since 2009. “Now, it’s the opposite.”
McFadden says “it’s very frustrating to turn away so many people” (and their dogs).
She says that dogs have to get along with a family’s dog or dogs before they can be placed; if the new dog doesn't get along with the new family’s dogs, it may be back in a shelter.
Among other problems, “A lot (of people) can't afford a dog, or they’re working too many hours, or they can't provide exercise and time to the dog,” McFadden says. “Some people work 12 hours or even a couple of (straight) shifts. With some, it’s financial. With those, we offer them dog food, and we advise them about (affordable) health care.”
McFadden says her family has two “foster failures”, dogs that didn’t adopt out successfully. They’re a beagle-basset hound mix named Della and a yellow lab mix named Riva.
“We fell in love with them, so, really, they’re a foster win,” she said in early December.
CHRISTMAS CRUNCH
One problem late in the year, Currin says, is people gifting dogs for Christmas; sometimes the person receiving the gift doesn’t want it or can’t take care of it.
“This (December) is one of the better times for adoption (from the shelter),” Currin says, “but everyone in the house has to be aware of the gift.”
He says that Christmas surprises often become dog surrenders in January and February.
“Don’t do surprises,” he says. “It (the gift) needs to be something everyone agrees (with) as to responsibility.”
GETTING HELP
The Forsyth Humane Society’s web page has advice for potential pet surrenders.
“We are asking that pet owners consider surrendering their pet as their very last resort,” according to FHS’s web page. “We cannot guarantee placement in our adoption program, and have limitations on space and resources which means euthanasia may be a real possibility for your pet.”
The Humane Society offers an alternative to surrendering a pet to a shelter. According to the website, FHS is partnered with Rehome by Adopt-a-Pet.com to provide free community listings of pets looking for new homes. This way, pet owners can find new families for their pets without sending them to a shelter.
“This is much better for the families and the pet,” the website says.
Neff adds that pet owners can get help with leashes, pet food, collars and even kennels. That way, a pet may not need to be surrendered; it’s a win-win for the animals, the pet owners and the shelters.
THE BOTTOM LINE
The Humane Society’s Neff and AARF’s Currin both try to be positive in a situation with too many pet surrenders or stray animals and not enough money or shelter space.
“Their (pet owners’) intent is always good,” Neff said, “but sometimes they get in way over their heads.”
Currin says the problem “is bigger than we can tackle, and the same with the Humane Society and other organizations. This is bigger than we all can solve.”
But, Neff adds, “I’m committed to what I'm doing, and we have good people. I believe our role is to serve the community.”
And the pets.
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