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Owners of a Southwestern Ontario kennel say they’re continually rescuing dumped dogs amid wait lists as long as six months to safely surrender pets at local humane societies.
The fallout – with businesses like Hillside Animal Control in Innerkip, near Woodstock, bursting at the seams – means more dogs are at risk of being euthanized, co-owner Tracy Gibson said.
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“They’re being dumped at an alarming rate – we’ve been overwhelmed,” she said. “Sometimes we have a really bad week – last week I picked up seven dogs in two days and only one dog went back home.”
The main culprits, Gibson said, are breeders who can’t sell their dogs and people who can’t afford to take care of theirs anymore.
At the Humane Society London and Middlesex, where they accept surrendered dogs, there’s a wait list of up to six months because they don’t euthanize animals, said animal health director Marrissa Sitts.
“We’re seeing a really high increase of what we presume are dumped animals,” she said. “With the housing crisis and people not being able to afford their own food or housing, people are at that point they’re dumping their dogs because they don’t feel like they have a choice.”
Gibson said the crisis began at the end of the COVID-19 pandemic when people who bought large dogs while they’d been spending extra time at home went back to the workplace. Lots of people bought puppies, not fully realizing their breed would result in a big animal, Gibson said.
“They’re so cute when they’re little. But people don’t understand the breeds and don’t bring them up properly.”
While Hillside often turns to other agencies to help with an overflow of dogs, at times a dog may become at risk of being euthanized, said Gibson, who has turned to social media to raise awareness about at-risk dogs and hopefully find them homes.
The strategy often works.
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“It’s a fact of life when a kennel gets overwhelmed they have to euthanize. We don’t like it. We hate it,” Gibson said. “Other places do it too, they just don’t admit it.
“We’re just a little more forward with it, hoping if we put it out there (it will get) the dogs adopted.”
Sitts said many of the dumped animals they rescue are “under-socialized dogs with a lot of behavioural problems.” They’re essentially “big, giant puppies” that haven’t been trained, she said.
“It creates a safety issue for people because they’re mounting and jumping,” Sitts said. “And then they’re put in a shelter environment, which is already a reactive environment. (It’s) not great for them to be there.”
One puppy with a broken leg was recently abandoned in a cardboard box in front of the Clarke Road facility, Sitts said.
Right now the London shelter has a wait list of 45 dogs waiting to be surrendered by owners.
“Every case is urgent,” Sitts said, adding it can be due to “people living in their cars, no financial abilities, kids with severe allergies, behavioural issues.”
People often hear of the wait list and tell humane society staff they plan to throw their dog “off at the side of the road,” Sitts said.
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