‘Foreclosure Pets’ – It’s so Common it has a Name

With the rate of house foreclosure and eviction skyrocketing, people more and more are just abandoning their pets at the home they are leaving. Foreclosures are actually up 62% over last year and pets, which may not rate very high on the priority scale to start with are dropping even lower as people find themselves in dire straits financially. People often gather whenever the can and just leave, often abandoning dogs and cats without food or water, sometimes to breed uncontrollably, especially in the case of cats.

And this is not just companion animals such as dog and cat and even birds, this also include livestock, farm animals.

Too often I’ve come across stories of people leaving houses, whether through forclosure, eviction or other reason and leaving animals. If an animal is lucky it’s found before it’s too late but sadly, that it not always the case.

Here’s one, Kristy Knecht moved out of her house and left two dogs, a German Shepherd and a Belgian Malinois locked up in the house for months. She said she’s toss some food into the house occasionally but never went in. By the time Animal Control made it on the scene, the German Shepherd had died and the Belgian Malinois, Neeko, has survived only by eating the corpse of the dead dog. Even then, the once 80 lb dog had dwindled to only 30 lbs and was no more than skin and bones. Neeko is still recovering and will be for month yet but this cruel neglect.

And another; new tenants had moved into a home and shortly after moving in heard sounds coming from the garage. When they investigated they found a dog chained up and in deplorable condition! The dog, who should have weighed at least 40 lbs weighed only a little over half of that. This poor innocent and defenseless dog had been left chained up, for possibly as long as a month, without sustenance. How he lived was beyond anyone’s belief.

Here’s one that wasn’t so lucky. All that remains of the black Lab are the claw marks across the cement floor and down the door of the basement. Those scratches tell the story of Jack’s last days as he starved to death in a St. Clair Shores home, abandoned for more than a month by his owner. Sopoliga had bought the home on Rosedale from his grandfather but never made a mortgage payment. Instead of settling up with the bank, Margolis said, Sopoliga abandoned the house, leaving his belongings inside. That included the dog.

More? A woman abandoned a house and all the animals inside. The first sight that greeted police was a horribly emaciated Doberman on a locked enclosed porch. Inside the house it got worse; a dead male Doberman on the couch, and a “very frail” adult female Doberman lying next to it. The female had a hard time just getting off the low couch. Nearby was a brown puppy, also very skinny, and in a bedroom, they found a black puppy on a bed that was unable to even hold its head up. A monkey sitting in a cage on the floor, a dead puppy was found under a bed and a dead cat was found in a cardboard box.

Trust me, I could continue on, it gets worse and worse. Just this week in Arizona 40 pets were rescued form a house that was abandoned.

The Arizona Humane Society rescued 40 pets living in filthy conditions at a West Valley home on Wednesday.

The owners had apparently been evicted, but left the animals behind.

The group said they discovered 15 dogs, including 3 puppies, and 20 cats at the home near 71st Avenue and McDowell.

Two of the puppies were covered in ticks with open wounds on their body.

Humane officers apparently found piles of cat feces over a foot deep in areas and said the cats looked as though they hadn’t been cleaned in years.

One of the dogs living outside did not appear to have any food or water.

The animals were evacuated to the Second Chance Animal Hospital is Phoenix.

They are undergoing evaluation, and will eventually be put up for adoption.

It’s unclear what charges the owners could face.

For more information, visit the Arizona Humane Society’s website. (ABC15)

When are people going to realize that these are living creatures worthy of consideration too. The feel hurt and pain and loneliness and always give back to us far more then they ever ask!

If you find yourself in a desperate situation, please, please, please, do not just abandon your pets to the cruelties of fate!! Make a phone call and let a local shelter care for them.  If you notice an abandoned home where pets were, take a moment and make sure they were not abandoned.  It is all of our responsibility! We are their only voices!

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