Big increase in 'surrendered' animals noted
By Patti Richter of the Daily Courier

With her floppy ears, sweet demeanor and wiggling body, Calista is sure to bring someone joy. Just not her original owners.
The 6-month-old Black Labrador Retriever at the Rogue Valley Humane Society is one of the latest victims of the struggling economy and homeowners facing foreclosure. As more homeowners face losing their houses, their pets often become a burden when trying to find an apartment or home to rent.
Other owners are stuck with the unenviable choice of paying for gas to get to work or feeding their pets.
"It's such a shame," said Margaret Varner, assistant manager at RVHS. "Now, our four-legged friends are starting to feel it. It's hard to have to watch it."
Calista came to RVHS by a stroke of good luck. Two of the shelter's volunteers were returning from delivering a dog to a new home in Medford when they saw someone in a pickup truck pull off the road, throw out Calista and speed away.
"Our volunteers tried to get the license plate number, but had to choose between that and saving the dog," Varner said. "So they chose the dog."
Since January, both RVHS and Joseph8ine County Animal Control have seen more people bringing in their animals. Few of the "owner surrenders", as they are known, are due to an animal's bad behavior. Most owners are having to move and can't take their pet with them.
Coming to work Monday and finding a dog tied to the fence or having just given birth to eight puppies is nothing new for Animal Control Supervisor Brad Tally.
The shelter will soon have eight Black Lab puppies and eight Husky/Shepherd mix puppies available for adoption.
Tally said real estate agents have been finding animals abandoned in the backyards of homes they are showing.
Since January, owners have turned over 95 dogs to Animal Control, up from about 73 during the same period last year. Figures for cats are also up by about 5 percent over last year.
One positive thing about the "owner surrendered" dogs is most have good manners and are housebroken. Most are also good around children and like people. All of those qualities make them easier to place in a new home, Tally said.
"It's a last resort for pet owners to bring them to us," he said. "They are pretty emotional and really don't want to turn over the dog. But they don't have any other options."
Budgets are already strained for both shelters. Donations of food for cats and dogs are always needed. Animal Control and RRVHS also need volunteers to make dogs more adoptable by socializing them.
Christina Reed, manager for the RVHS shelter, said it sometimes has extra dog and cat food and is willing to share with pet owners in need.
"We would rather give them some food than see the animal starve", Reed said. "And if we give them some food, maybe they will be able to keep the animal. That way it doesn't end up dumped off here."
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Malone

Calista came to RVHS by a stroke of good luck. Two of the shelter's volunteers were returning from delivering a dog to a new home in Medford when they saw someone in a pickup truck pull off the road, throw out Calista and speed away.
"Our volunteers tried to get the license plate number, but had to choose between that and saving the dog," Varner said. "So they chose the dog."

This is an ongoing problem right here in Polk County as well as other places across the country. It is against the law but few people realize it and if you don't have a tag number or some other way to identify them, there isn't much you can do.

Our shelter manager arrived at HSO Saturday morning to find a young puppy, not even weaned yet, at our gate. Fortunately, we have a wonderful, loving volunteer that took the puppy home and will care for it until it is adoptable. This will be about 4 months because we can't accept puppies that have not completed the series of Parvo shots. Parvo is deadly and spreads easily. It also can take as long as 2 years before the area of free of the disease.

To the person who dumped this baby--may the fleas of a thousand camels invade your armpits.

I do understand people being forced to moved to places that do not accept pets. I personally have had some really bad experiences renting to pet owners and I can also understand how the economy is affecting everyone but pets are not disposable. They depend on you to take care of them and I hope everyone will stop and think about this being a lifetime commitment before you adopt that adorable puppy. Think of the vet bills, food and your own housing. If you have to move can you take your pet? Is that white cat hair going to look good on your black couch? They will love you unconditionally and you must be prepared to to the same.

This always happens in Spring in Polk County, though the PTB claim there is "no problem".

All my neighbors have had dumps this month, pregnant ones, babies, etc.

Spay and neuter, spay and neuter, spay and neuter. I find it hard to believe that people can't come up with $35 on a certificate spay program...I see them all out at the video stores, the pizza parlors, the restaurants. They do not know what sacrafice means, I guess.

I saw somebody slow down in front of my place the other day (nobody would have reason to do that on this road). I flew out of the house in my pajamas and no shoes. :)

I personally believe it should be legal to shoot their tires out while they're dumping animals on you. :)

Who can we report to, by the way? I'm ready.

Also, please tell people to phone the PTB (when we get the proper numbers) and report every time animals are dumped or found. From what I hear, they keep saying there's no problems????

Dang, L!!! :omg:

I'd drive slow down your road to see THAT!!!! :laughing:



Malone

I had 3 calls today regarding dogs that had been dumped. Unfortunately, they had to go on the waiting list because we are full again. We also had 2 cats that delivered 10 kittens--we got them too late to spay. Right now we have 22 kittens too young to adopt. We have 4 in foster that were too young to have left mama.

If you live in the county, your only recourse is to call the Sheriff's Dept but unless you have a tag number I don't think they can do anything. They don't pick up strays however. If you live in the Mena City limits you can call Mena Animal Control. They will pick up strays but once again if you don't have a tag number or some way of identifying the perp there's not much you can do.