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From: Noon Cat Nick on 9 Apr 2008 00:21
http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/113-04082008-1516075.html

As more and more Americans feel the financial crunch - gas prices
rising, paychecks not keeping pace with consumer costs and the growing
number of home foreclosures - America's pets are taking a hit as well.

Animal rescue groups report a growing trend in abandoned pets as a
result of owners being forced to leave their homes and find housing
elsewhere.

"We definitely have gotten animals from people who lost their houses and
had to scale back," said Anne Irwin, executive director of the Bucks
County SPCA in Solebury.

It's not so much a question of not being able to afford feeding Fido or
Fifi, said Irwin, as to why pets are let loose, but rather owners moving
in with relatives or rental properties that don't allow pets.

In New Jersey, two people were arrested Monday after an extreme example
of animal abandonment was discovered. Barnegat, N.J., police say they
found 50 dead animals in a foreclosed house.

Pennsylvania also has anti-cruelty laws that make abandoning animals
illegal.

I think when people face these big life decisions they really have to
make hard choices about pets because then it really does seem that a pet
is a luxury when you�re having to figure out what to do next,' said Irwin.

In neighboring Montgomery County, Carmen Ronio, executive director of
that county's SPCA, said the Abington shelter, one of three in the
county, had three cats and two dogs turned in by families who claimed to
be losing their properties in the last two months.

"We didn't get the impression these people were becoming homeless, but
obviously had to make other arrangements," he said.

Neither of the county's other satellite facilities in Perkiomenville and
Conshohocken have reported any increase of pets being dropped off for
those reasons, he said.

About 11,000 animals a year, mostly dogs and cats, go through the
Montgomery County SPCA, said Ronio.

"We've had Realtors call us or landlords call us and say they've come
into a place and the animals are sitting there with empty food bowls,"
said Diane Schwarz, president of Kitty Adoption Team in Blue Bell.

Bette McTamney, a broker with ERA Platinum Realty in Worcester and vice
president of District 9 of the Pennsylvania Association of Realtors,
which covers Bucks and Montgomery counties, said some landlords are
bending more now when it comes to accepting renters with pets, charging
anywhere between $500 and $1,000 as a one-time fee for pets.

Larger pets, such as horses, are finding their way to animal rescue
shelters, too, as breeders reduce their herds for the same economic
reasons as well as because of dramatic increases in the price of hay,
said Lori McCutcheon-Benetz, owner and president of Last Chance Ranch, a
nonprofit equine rescue operation.

The group has 24 horses at its Richland facility and another 22 it
houses on the grounds of Graterford Prison, where inmates and guards
care for them.

McCutcheon-Benetz said she is working with a Pipersville woman who has
had horses for almost 30 years and financial problems are causing her to
move to an area where she can't keep the horses.

Irwin encourages people to take their pets to a shelter instead of just
leaving them to fend for themselves.

It's always better for animal shelters to know the pet's name and its
history to make for better placement of the pet, she said.

"People should know that if they have to give up their animals because
of a change in their circumstances, that this (SPCA) is a safe place to
bring them. We accept any animal. We don't judge people for giving them up."
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