NO PUPPY LOVE: POST-LOCKDOWN LIFESTYLES AND COST OF LIVING ARE DRIVING AUSTRALIANS TO SURRENDER THEIR PETS

The end of Covid lockdowns and the spiralling cost of living have left animal shelters overflowing, with organisations now forced to host adoption drives and slash their fees in an effort to get more animals out of shelters and into their forever homes.

This was in stark contrast to the high adoption rates and shelter shortages across Australia during the early days of the Covid pandemic and subsequent lockdowns.

Nadia Peiris, the animal care manager for RSPCA Victoria, said shelters had seen a high volume of pets surrendered, while adoption and foster rates have fallen.

“Every day we’re trying to work out our capacity at each site but it’s the perfect storm,” she said.

“Being out of lockdown now, people want to travel more and be outdoors so people’s priorities may not include animals at the moment.”

Kristy Blake, general manager of animal operations for RSPCA New South Wales, said they saw a 20-30% increase in surrenders post-lockdown last year.

On top of this, more families were now citing the growing cost of living as the reason for having to give up their animals.

“There’s an increase in the cost of living which is putting a lot of pressure on people and they’re having to rationalise their budgets,” Blake said.

“We’re trying to work with them to provide alternative solutions to surrendering.”

Currently, RSPCA NSW was investing more time in helping pet owners with behavioural training and veterinary costs so they could keep pets with families and out of shelters.

“Our shelters, while they’re not full they are running at high capacity and we don’t like them to be full, because we know at any one time our inspectors need to be able to bring in multiple animals they’ve seized because of a cruelty complaint,” Blake said.

To help ease pressure on their shelters, RSPCA Victoria will host its Hundred Dollar Hounds day on Saturday. This comes as The Lost Dogs’ Home reduced their adoption fees over the past week after reaching capacity in its North Melbourne and Cranbourne shelters.

Normally, adoption fees can be as high as $1,500 for an adult dog or puppy, depending on the organisation or shelter that has the pet. During the pandemic lockdowns, breeders were charging up to $15,000 for a purebred dog or a popular poodle cross, with many paying hundreds of dollars to be put on waitlists for litters. Prices have since dropped.

According to a recent survey, more than half of Australian dog owners opted to buy from a breeder. Although 83% said they would consider adoption for their next pet, just 22% opted to rescue their dog from an organisation – down from 30% in 2020.

Victorian RSPCA shelters are currently seeing more smaller dogs and puppies coming into the shelter, which they “didn’t see for years” according to Peiris.

“That sort of paints a picture of how tricky the situation is right now.”

Western Australia RSPCA services were also experiencing capacity challenges, Peiris said, and South Australia was dealing with a serious cat overpopulation issue.

The majority of animals in RSCPA South Australia’s care are felines, and it cost the organisation over $3m each year to desex and microchip the thousands of cats they take in.

In 2021/22 RSPCA SA had a cat intake of 5,759. In the years prior going back to 2012, the yearly intake only surpassed 5,000 once in 2019/20.

RSPCA branches in Queensland were facing a similar issue, with cats accounting for 62% of the animals currently in their care.

“Surrender applications in July were almost 12% higher than previous months,” a spokesperson said.

“With the increasing financial pressures on households, we do think these trends could continue, so it has never been more important to adopt or foster where people can.”