An article that appeared on the front of yesterday’s Richmond Times-Dispatch discussed the economy and its supposed effects on local pet relinquishment. Similar stories first began to make news nationally at the beginning of the year and have been a popular topic ever since.  We always track the reasons that owners relinquish pets to the Richmond SPCA and our numbers do not support the claims made in the Times-Dispatch article. 

Understanding the reasons people surrender their pets is important in developing programs to help those pets stay in their homes. Our numbers of surrenders for financial reasons are not higher than the same time last year and they are not increasing month to month. In fact, as reported in yesterday’s story, through Project Safety Net since February – we have confirmed that 80 pets have stayed in their homes as a result of those services (rather than being surrendered here or at any other facility). We certainly have pets who are surrendered due to economic pressures, but we have that every year, and it remains a small percentage – no larger than it is in any other year.

Our partner, Richmond Animal Care & Control, also has not seen a significant increase. They also counsel owners to make them aware of the resources that are available in our community.

We first developed Project Safety Net in 2002 as part of the transition to our current no-kill model. Earlier this year, the low-cost boarding component was added as a proactive response to the pending housing crisis. The programs of Project Safety Net are designed not only to prevent pets being surrendered to the Richmond SPCA but also to prevent them from entering any shelter in our community. Keeping owned pets in their homes allows us to focus our resources on saving lives of animals through our partnerships with municipal shelters.

We are dedicated as an organization to keeping families and their pets together rather than making the surrender of an animal the first option when times are tough. Oftentimes, when times are difficult, what we need the most is the unconditional love of our family, and that includes our beloved animal companions.

Tabitha Hanes is the Community Relations Manager for the Richmond SPCA.

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