Foreclosure Fury Victims

May 13th, 2008 | Tags: Foreclosure Victims

There are innumerable furry victims of foreclosure fury – hapless pets and animals sacrificed at the altar of greed and mismanagement. It shows up the beastly side of human civilization.

In Attleboro, Tabby and Sylvester have shifted quarters from a human sized house to two cramped jailed cages in the animal shelter of the city. The owners were kind enough not to let them loose on the streets but to contact the shelter. It does not need to be added that they are far less comfortable physically as well as mentally. Fortunately Tabby has been adopted and will soon again learn to adjust to new faces and surroundings. Sylvester is not so lucky because of a chronic illness and is on the waiting list with 13 other stray or surrendered cats. The worst is when they are abandoned. The problem is raising keeping pace with increasing foreclosures.

Ellaina Knight of Friends of the Attleboro Animal Shelter said that the foreclosure problem has led to an increased number of calls. Statistics speaks for itself.

During the first quarter foreclosures have tripled to 28 as against 8 in 2007 first three months. It does not speak well for pets across the country. The shelter at Attleboro can accommodate only about 15 cats and 12 dogs. The cages of the cats are full and if not they are soon occupied. Diane Beltran, a cat care worker is worried that worse days are ahead.

News coming in from the other parts of the country tells the same tale. Cleveland Animal Protective League is suffering from ‘crisis mode’. Some of the pets were found in indescribable condition in vacant houses. The rooms were pasted with excreta and urine. Some pets were dead having been left either tied up or without food and water.

About 700 pets were surrendered in Orange County, Florida during October to February. It was triple the number from what it was during the housing boom of 2005.

Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in Boston, comments that although things are relatively better there is tension in the air. Numbers are slowly but surely increasing. Over the past ten months the pace has suddenly spiked. MSPCA staff has started recording numbers to find the ratio between foreclosures and pet abandonments. As yet no data is available, as they have just started operations. Another angle of worry is that while abandonment of animals will increase there will be a decrease of adoption offerings because of the economic slow down.