Animal adoptions have steadily increased over the past year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which left many people stuck at home in quarantine and looking for something new.
As people have made the slow return to work and enjoyed some comfort following the introduction of coronavirus vaccines, shelters are also seeing an influx of new animals that are being put up for adoption.
One local shelter, the Hocking County Humane Society, has taken in an increased number of dogs, cats and other animals like horses and birds since the beginning of the year.
Lanette Blair, humane agent and assistant dog warden for the Hocking County Humane Society, said the humane society works in a variety of ways to ensure the safety of animals in the county.
“(With) the dog warden part, we (take) stray dogs and enforce dog tags in the county,” Blair said. “As a humane agent, we do everything else. So, if there's abuse, neglect, abandonment, those types of things, we investigate and prosecute if necessary for that. As a shelter, we take in strays, owner turn-ins, abused and neglected animals. We get them vetted and then re-homed.’’
Blair also said with many people returning to work, the shelter has seen a rise in the number of abandoned animals, though the influx has not been as large as expected.
“We adopted a lot more animals in the beginning (of the pandemic) because people were home, and they were home and could spend time and train and do the things (with their animals),” Blair said. “Once people started going back to work, we noticed an increase of intake but not terribly, not like we expected.”
With several shelters in the area offering pets to local residents and college students, students at Ohio University have played a role in the adoption of animals.
Kayla Gauze, a senior studying early-childhood education, recently adopted a new kitten from a co-worker and said it is stressful thinking about balancing an internship and taking care of a new pet.
“It happened pretty nicely because the classroom I'm interning in right now, at the Child Development Center, is shut down because of a positive COVID case,” Gauze said. “So, I have been home all week, which worked out really well because I've been able to be home and monitor the situation and do my classwork online. I am nervous to go back next week because I won't be able to watch and make sure that everything's OK.”
Gauze also said acclimating her kitten to a new environment is the most difficult thing she’s dealing with currently.
“The biggest thing with getting a new kitten is socializing the kitten with any other animals that you have in the house,” Gauze said. “That's a process that I'm in the middle of, and it's quite stressful for all parties involved.’’
OU has campus resources available to help students who are looking to adopt a new pet, such as Bobcats of the Shelter Dogs, which works with the Athens County Dog Shelter to increase fundraising efforts and get students connected.
Maddy Mitchell, president of Bobcats of the Shelter Dogs and a junior studying nursing, explained some of the work the shelter does in partnership with the Athens County Dog Shelter.
“What we do is we hold a bunch of fundraisers or tabling events to raise money and everything that we make goes directly to the shelter, so we do not keep any of it,” Mitchell said. “We also volunteer at the shelter, and we have a set schedule with all of our members.”
Caleigh Russell, vice president of Bobcats of the Shelter Dogs and a junior studying psychology, added the organization saw an increase of dogs inside the shelter — believed to be from abandonment — since the ease of COVID-19 restrictions.
“There is a possibility that it's not because of the pandemic, but it seems like we have a lot of dogs that are in (the shelter) just conveniently after people are starting to go back to work and starting to get the regular routine back,” Russell said. “There was actually a day … where we had dogs outside in our outdoor kennel for a while, which doesn't really happen. We always have the dogs inside.”
