People struggling financially are making tough choices and are being forced to give up their pets. Almost daily people are bringing dogs and cats they can no longer care for to the Topeka animal shelter.
Recently a man brought in two skinny dogs, saying he couldn’t afford to feed them. “He had to feed his kids first,” an intake worker at the Helping Hands Human Society told the Topeka Capital-Journal.
The shelter is filling up with dogs and cats as desperate people are giving up their pets. People are losing jobs and moving to places where they cannot keep their pets. The shelter is coping with the population increase by housing more pets per cage and focusing on Christmas adoptions. Foster care is being arranged for some animals. Other animals will be euthanized if the shelter fills beyond to capacity.
Pets are being abandoned as more and more houses are being abandoned in foreclosure proceedings.
A new program for foster care has been created for pet owners who seek housing at the Topeka Rescue Mission or receive help from the YWCA Battered Women Task Force. The goal of the program is to prevent desperate people from making poor decisions such as living outside in the elements or staying in an abusive relationship because of the love for a pet, according to Barry Feaker, executive director.
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