As the holiday season rolls around, families flock to breeders and shelters, hoping to bring home a new pet. In the same fashion, many people rushed to find a pet during the COVID-19 pandemic. But what is the aftereffect of these pet adoption surges?
“There is no question about it,” said Alka Chandna, Vice President of Animal Experimentation at People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). “You watch those videos, and you see the box under the Christmas tree, and it is moving around. Then the kid comes in and opens the box and there is an adorable puppy inside, and it’s very compelling; everyone wants to create that magical moment,” she said.
However, as the magical moments of the holidays pass, pets still provide great joy and comfort. Gabriella Jew, volunteer and shelter manager at Muttville, said, “I think it’s a happy time, but [the holidays] can also be a stressful time for so many people, so it’s nice to take a step back, hang out with your dogs, and just enjoy their presence.”
The harsh reality, however, is that many hoping to create that magical moment, either during the holidays or, in general, add a new member to their family in a non-committal nature. Shelters often begin to feel the push of these adopters at typically stressful times, like the winter holidays. When situations change, pets are often the first to go.
Deb Campbell, Volunteer & Outreach Coordinator at Animal Care and Control, said, “We often see people surrendering animals the week of Thanksgiving because they can’t deal with — or afford — having to care for a pet during the holidays.”
Even smaller shelters, not mandated to take in all surrendered animals in the way that Animal Care and Control is, feel the wave of holiday surrenders. Kristin Hoff, the adoption manager at Muttville, said, “We’ve seen a trend where over the holidays dogs are often left at shelters because people need to travel and move and go places.”
photo courtesy of Muttvillesf
Although this wave of surrender is seen right around when the stress of the holiday season sets in, it does not necessarily mean that the surrendered pets were adopted around the holidays.
The excess of time at home brought on by the start of the pandemic led to a wave of adoptions. People did whatever they could to stay sane, and many chose to bring home a furry companion to spend the remainder of lockdown with. This new generation of dogs were dubbed “pandemic puppies.” Thinking back to March of 2020, the height of the COVID-19 lockdown, Hoff said, “I think we turned off applications at one point, like we ran out of dogs. Everybody was being adopted.”
Around the nation, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) reported that 23 million households welcomed a new pet during the pandemic. This statistic is mirrored within the Lick-Wilmerding High School community as well. With the break in the usually hectic lifestyle, many LWHS families welcomed a new pet into their home.
Louisa Wheeler ’24 is one of these countless students. “Since it was the pandemic, I convinced my parents that we could care for [a new dog] since we were at home,” she said.
Alia Azad ’24, had a similar experience. “I had been begging for a dog my entire childhood and when the pandemic rolled around, we finally had time, which in retrospect was very short lived,” she said.
This is not to say that caring for a dog always ends in disaster, it is just a large commitment. “That commitment means that you have to be willing to feed the animal, care for the animal, provide veterinary care for the animal,” Chandna said. “You don’t just get rid of the animal because they have a behavioral issue, you get rid of them because something in your life changes. [An example of this is] if you get married and your partner doesn’t like the animal and then basically you trade them. It is a commitment, a real commitment, this is a living being that is totally dependent on you.”
Often in the media, puppies are portrayed as handbag adornments made to be carried around. The amount of care it takes to have a pet is chronically downplayed. According to Chandna, this portrayal contributes to the already negative relationship humans have with animals. “The dominant relationship we have as a species with animals is one of commodification, they are viewed as commodities,” Chandna said.
So what is the effect of this relationship? The answer to this question becomes overwhelmingly clear over the holidays, with an influx in hasty adoptions without potential owners seriously considering the responsibilities that they are walking into. As Campbell said, “it’s easy to prevent this, but people don’t bother — then it becomes the shelter’s responsibility to find them homes.”
This does not mean that one should not look to adopt a pet ever. “We are always open to adopting with people who are genuine and want love from dogs, but if they are just there to be like ‘that one looks great,’ I am probably going to put the brakes on,” Hoff said.
At the end of the day, being a pet owner is a real, serious commitment. “Another being is in your reality,” Azad said. “Now you have someone who is entirely dependent on you.”
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