It has been two years since COVID-19 came into our lives. Since then, we’ve faced global lockdowns and restrictions – on and off – in order to try and reduce the damage brought on by the pandemic.
At the start of the pandemic, there were a lot of animal adoptions as people wanted furry companions to help get through the tough stretch of isolation.
However, since the world has started to open back up and restrictions are being lifted, there is now an increase in dogs getting surrendered to rescues and shelters all across Australia.
Being called the “pandemic puppy” wave, there seems to be a lot of people who are now realizing that they took on too big of a responsibility by getting a pet during the lockdown.
According to news.com.au, the RSPCA Victoria has reported there were about 50 dog surrenders per month! Worst still, is that number has now jumped up to 150 dogs per month since Christmas time.
Given the shocking number of dogs being surrendered, there is a major strain on the animal rescue’s resources. Worst still, the RSPCA Victoria has also seen a decrease in the number of people claiming the lost dogs that end up at the shelter.
While this is quite distressing news, it’s not just big dogs that are getting surrendered. Nadia Peiris, the animal care manager for RSPCA Victoria shared with Nine News that even small dogs are getting abandoned as well – something that “almost never happens.”
Peiris added that “COVID had a huge impact,” given that Victoria was one of the strictest lockdowns in the world. However, she also doesn’t rule out the fact that other rescues and shelters across Australia are most likely also going through similar issues.
She said, “I would expect that quite a few of your biggest states are seeing capacity issues for sure.”
It isn’t just the RSPCA in Victoria that has seen the increasing number of surrenders. The German Shepherd Rescue Victoria also saw the numbers go up, receiving at least three requests per day to surrender a German Shepherd. Because of this overwhelming number of surrenders on the rise, the rescue had no choice but to make the “heartbreaking decision” to turn away any further surrendered animals until after the Easter holiday.
The German Shepherd Rescue Victoria cited on Facebook that their organization “cannot cope with the number of dogs that need our help” even though it “breaks our heart.”
They further added, “We are being inundated with surrender requests again; we knew this year would be busier than ever, but this is just too much. GSRV has received almost 40 requests for help since the beginning of March alone, our foster homes are full … we just can’t keep up and are working through a huge backlog of dogs needing our help.”
WE ARE FULL!This breaks our heart to have to write this, but we cannot cope with the number of dogs that need our…
Posted by German Shepherd Rescue Victoria on Monday, March 21, 2022
Back in 2021, Animal Medicines Australia cited that the pandemic saw the “biggest boom Australia has seen in pet ownership.” They reported that 19% of all pet dogs owned in Australia were a direct link to acquisition during the pandemic – making that one million more dogs in Australian households than there was in 2019!
However, it has started to become clear that not everyone who got a dog during the pandemic completely thought it through in a long-term fashion. Unfortunately, it seems that lots of people just wanted companionship without the full realization that pets are a life-long responsibility. Now, it is the animal shelters and rescues who are feeling the weight of responsibility as they try to help all these surrendered animals.
If you want to see what you can do to help, click here for RSPCA Victoria, or click here for the German Shepherd Rescue Victoria.
Source: The Animal Rescue Site Blog
