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Letter to the editor

Shelters fill with pets whose owners lost homes

Foreclosures are making it increasingly harder for people to care for their animals.

By Susan Thurston, Times Staff Writer
Published March 6, 2008

ADVERTISEMENT [Kathleen Flynn | Times] Terrier mutts Dexter, left, and Avery wait at the Humane Society after their owner of 12 years lost his home.

He didn't want to do it but felt he had no choice. No one should have to live in a car, and that includes dogs.

So, with Avery and Dexter in tow, shelter workers say the man came to the Humane Society of Tampa Bay and said goodbye to his faithful friends.

He told shelter workers he lost his home and was staying in his car until he could find another place to live. He wanted a better life for his dogs of 12 years, said Sherry Silk, the humane society's executive director.

That was nearly two months ago. The 25-pound terrier mutts -- siblings adopted together as puppies -- remain at the shelter, waiting for a permanent home.

It's a troubling situation for local shelter officials, and one that's becoming increasingly common as more people lose their homes to foreclosure. Faced with finding a new place to live quickly, families are surrendering their pets because they can't take them to an apartment or a relative's house.

"It's really hitting the animals hard," Silk said. "The animals are often the first things to go. It's very, very sad."

The picture appears especially grim in Florida, which has the third-highest foreclosure rate in the country. The Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater area was ranked as the 36th worst in a recent survey of 229 metro areas by RealtyTrac, which follows default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions.

Silk has seen foreclosure-related cases spike in the past six to seven months. Nearly 100 people are on a waiting list to drop off pets. Others have been turned away.

Many of the animals take longer to adopt than usual, limiting the shelter's ability to take in more pets. They are old, too big for an apartment or condo and, in the case of pit bullterriers and Doberman pinschers, are often banned from communities.

Nancy Bland is working with the shelter to try to find a home for her 150-pound English mastiff, Dusty. She and her family of five are living in a single-wide mobile home after losing their four-bedroom home with a big yard in Valrico. Dusty, who used to spend the night indoors, now lives outside on a chain.

Bland hates the thought of Dusty sitting in a cage at the shelter, which only euthanizes animals that can't be adopted because of health or behavioral reasons. Still, she doesn't want her 7-year-old dog to suffer.

"I want him to live out the rest of his years happy," she said. "I'd hate to give him up, but if I could find him a good home, I would."

At the Humane Society of Pinellas, employees started hearing foreclosure stories last fall, at a time when fewer people are adopting.

"Everybody's not going to tell you the exact truth because of embarrassment, but we've had a number of people who have told us they were losing their homes," said Suzanne Sakal, development director for the Clearwater shelter, a largely no-kill shelter.

In response, the shelter has compiled a list of apartment complexes that allow large dogs and multiple animals per unit. In rare circumstances, the shelter will house a pet temporarily for someone in dire need.

"When social problems affect people that, in turn, affects animals," Sakal said. "It breaks our heart every day ... and it will get worse before it gets better."

At Tampa's Humane Society in West Tampa, employees are going to extra lengths to adopt Avery and Dexter, whose owner recently told shelter officials he found a rental, but it doesn't allow pets. Shelter officials said he was too upset to be interviewed and didn't want his name published.

The shelter took Avery, the calmer of the two, to a PetSmart adoption site and reduced his adoption price to $50. One woman heartened by the dogs' story wanted to take them, but Dexter didn't like her other dog. Now, shelter employees will consider adopting the duo separately, something they were trying to avoid.

Silk, the executive director, dreads having to euthanize either one of them. "I'm really hoping we don't have to," she said.

How to help

If you're interested in adopting Dexter and Avery, or other pets affected by foreclosure, contact the Humane Society of Tampa Bay at (813) 876-7138.

[Last modified March 6, 2008, 00:56:18]