In some properly heartbreaking news, puppers are being given up in record numbers according to Victorian animal shelters. Obviously we all now have to go and adopt 700 dogs.
RSPCA Victoria said that before Christmas it was receiving about 50 dogs a month as first reported in 9News. Now that number is more like 150 a month.
According to RSPCA animal care manager Nadia Peiris behavioural problems in dogs were one of the biggest issues.
“COVID had a huge impact,” she told 9News.
I mean, who doesn’t know someone who adopted a pet for companionship-slash-boredom during lockdown? The stats back it up too. Animal Medicines Australia published a study about Aussie pet ownership in August 2021.
It found that over a million dogs had been adopted in Australia since 2019. Maybe this explains the colossal quantities of dog poo on my street.
19 per cent of all pet dogs in Aus were bought or adopted during the pandemic according to the study.
The charity German Shepherd Rescue Victoria published a long Facebook post in late March.
In the post, it revealed the team couldn’t cope with the number of dogs it was being asked to help.
“GSRV has received almost 40 requests for help since the beginning of March alone, our foster homes are full,” said the post.
“We just can’t keep up and are working through a huge backlog of dogs needing our help.
“Nearly every surrendering owner we have spoken to over the last week telsl us that their dog needs to be gone by Easter as they are going away.”
According to the post, the bulk of the dogs have “complex behavioural” needs. That means they need experienced foster homes.
A number of animal charities are asking for more volunteers and foster homes to help with the influx of dogs. Forever Friends Animal Rescue Australia called out for doggy foster carers in a Facebook post titled “dog rescue emergency”.
“The number of dogs in need of rescue at the moment is unprecedented – and lives are in the balance. And we can’t save them without you,” it wrote.
Currently wishing I didn’t live in a tiny sharehouse with two cats so I could train up as a foster doggy parent RN.
Other shelters are putting out calls for forever homes. Tell me why that phrase always makes me cry. According to a recent post by The Lost Dogs’ Home in North Melbourne, it has nearly 80 pets currently up for adoption.
I will now be liking 700 different animal shelter Facebook pages just to cry with joy when they do the adoption update posts.
