pets suffering (breeders naturally)

Family pets fall victim to subprime crisis
by Mira Oberman Fri Jan 25, 9:26 AM ET



http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080125/ts_alt_afp/uspropertyfinanceanimals

CHICAGO (AFP) - Forget about the lost furnishings and finances, the most pitiful victims of the subprime mortgage crisis rocking the United States are the family pets.

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Shelters across the country have seen sharp upticks in the number of people giving up their pets in recent months because they have been forced out of their homes.

And -- more tragically -- neighbors, police and foreclosure agents are finding increasing numbers of pets left to fend for themselves in abandoned homes.

"We're finding too many animals who have starved to death," said Stephanie Shain, director of outreach for the Human Society of the United States.

While some people dump their pets on the street, others go so far as to lock the animal in a closet where their cries for help are harder to hear, she said.

It can take weeks for an animal to starve to death and desperate scratch and bite marks are usually found on doors and windows.

"They will eat anything -- furniture, or carpet or wallboard -- to try to ingest something," Shain said in a telephone interview.

"It's a very fearful and frantic and panicked situation for that animal to be in."

While there are no national statistics tracking how many animals are abandoned or dropped off at shelters, Shain said anecdotal evidence has shown "huge spikes" in areas hardest-hit by the housing downturn that shows no sign of easing.

Nearly two million families lost their homes to foreclosure in the first 11 months of last year after failing to keep up with mortgage payments, a hefty chunk of which were subprime loans.

That's an increase of 73 percent compared to a year earlier and represents one out of every 63 households nationwide, according to RealtyTrac which tracks mortgage data.

The Humane Society recently instigated a public-awareness campaign to offer tips on finding animal-friendly rental housing and remind people that pets are much better off in a shelter.

In one of the more shocking stories, more than 60 cats were found abandoned in a foreclosed home in Cincinnati last May, shortly after the foreclosure rate began to spike nationally.

Twenty of those cats are still being fostered while awaiting a permanent home, according to Foreclosurecats.org, a group which launched art projects to help finance the cost of caring for the kitties.

Most are not as lucky. Shelters across the country are habitually overcrowded and underfunded. Even animals which stand a good chance of being adopted are often euthanized in order to free up much-needed space.

That's why one pet rescue group which used to only deal with finding homes for hard-to-place strays has started temporarily fostering the pets of owners in distress.

"Most of the calls we get are from people who really want to keep their pets," said Melanie Roeder, the outreach manager at Chicago's Tree House Animal Foundation.

"We try to counsel them and talk about the idea of fostering, or finding a place on their own."

The group took in the cat of one woman who only needed a few weeks to find a new place to live and is open to helping others.

For others who are not able to find such a quick fix, saying goodbye is the only option.

"It's pretty traumatic for everybody, especially the kids," said Terri Sparks, a spokeswoman for Chicago's largest shelter, the Animal Welfare League.

"It's part of the family and they have no other options ... people are telling us we're losing our home and have to move."

While moving has always been one of the top reasons why people give up their pets to shelters, Sparks said more people started mentioning foreclosures a few months ago.

About 15-20 foreclosed families are now coming into the shelter every week with their pets, and police bring in two or three pets a week found abandoned in foreclosed homes.

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I just post the stories, for interest.. for everyone

Lord, what fools these mortals be!
- A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act III, Scene ii

Voltaire said: "Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities."

H.L.Mencken wrote:"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.”

Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. Albert Einstein

I fucking hate it when breeders do that!

Sounds selfish, but I have gotten some good pets from people who did not want them. It seems like animals know where they came from and they really appreciate attention and care. None has ever given me any major trouble. All have been very friendly, even the alleged "mean" dog!

Jesus Christ! At least take the animal to the pound if you can't keep it! At least it will have a quick death if it isn't adopted.

And of course the breeders have to ONLY HAVE full-bred pedigreed dogs. You see very few of these fuckwads going to a shelter to adopt a dog. I guess like kids, pets are also fashion accessories for these losers, until, of course, they become inconvneient.

Maybe we'll hear more stories of kids being left in hot cars this summer. And it will be kids of the people forced out of their homes. It just goes to show how stupid people are. Buying a house they can BARELY afford just because they are told they can afford it.

Yet another instance of why we humans need to be outta here.

Those poor animals. My oldest cat was abandoned by her original people. We've been together for over five years now and she still gets freaked out now and again, thinking I'm going to do the same. I can't imagine locking any of my fuzzies in a closet and just letting them die...

At least just set them free so they can have half a chance...what kind of evil fuckhole would lock them in closets to starve to death? Oh wait...I just answered my own question. Sure, breeding and homeownership make you a responsible adult, and a much better person than a person who doesn't breed and/or own a home.

"It truly is the one commonality that every designation of humans you can think of has, there's at least one asshole."
--Me

One of many reasons why I often feel ashamed to be part of the human race. We're having a supplies drive at my place of employment for the local animal shelter which is always on the verge of closing due to lack of funds and supplies. I spearheaded this effort and am dealing with some negative comments stating that we should be helping PEOPLE only! I'm fairly new at my workplace and it's all I can do to be civil about this. My take on it is that animals can't help themselves they're at the mercy of people. People CAN help themselves and too often choose not to - "it's easier to just collect handouts from de gub'ment, why should I work?" I've been p**** off about this for the past two days and when I read the above I just needed to rant.

Setters7 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> My take on it is that animals can't help
> themselves they're at the mercy of people. People
> CAN help themselves and too often choose not to -


This is EXACTLY the way I feel. Those assholes can go pick their own charity and fund-raise for it. It's always, "You're not supporting the right causes / expressing all points of view!" When it's REALLY "I'm too lazy to do anything / you're not expressing MY point of view FOR me!"

Setters7 put my attitude in a nutshell. Many of animals' problems are made for them by people. For the most part—and many exceptions exist—people make or aggravate their own problems. I prefer to help the animals, especially considering how population pressures are damaging wildlife habitat and how people's stupid decisions cause animals to suffer.

Back in the mid-1980s the big branch manager boss where I worked was pushing for 100% participation in United Way. (That was back when the Aramony family was running it, but before the scandal about their using the charity's money for personal luxuries hit the media.) UW then had no animal charities in its list, so I didn't participate for that and other reasons, including the manager's pushiness. (I think he would have received some fancy award or bonus based on employee participation. Screw him.) I felt the same way then about people making their own problems.

When I was coming up, my family had also been in situations when we could have used some help, but received none on the grounds that we didn't really "need" any. In other words, we were told to suck it up. Good words for a lot of those other people too, then.

I think pets at least appreciate aid more than most people would.

(Hugging my beagle...)

Next, those doing TMIJITW will lock their brats in the closet and abandon their homes.

Breeders are fucking psychopaths.

k-man I got a lot of shit one year here at work when I REFUSED to donate to the United Way.

Fuck them and their mothers. There is no way in hell I'm giving money to an organization like that, that indirectly funds animal testing.

My family was always in need of help and never accepted one hand out. We survived just fine. Why can't everybody take responsibility for themselves?

KidFreeLuvnLife, it gets worse. My refusal to participate in the United Way was back when it purported to tell you in its literature how much you "should" donate monthly based in your income and family size. Honest to goodness, there was even a chart. Again, this was in the Aramony days and you have to figure that many contributions paid for Concorde flights to Europe and other perks.

Sorry, but no charitable organization tells me how much I "should" donate. Screw that. You take what I choose to give you, if I choose to donate, and bosses pushing their employees to participate are grossly out of line.

Animal charities are always happy to get what you wish to give, as they are neglected compared with charities that help single moos who poop out bastard after bastard.