- Please Vote For "Second Chance Animal Shelter", East Brookfield Ma. At The Animal Rescue Site Its Easy, & Only Takes A Minute. Just Click The Banner Above. Thank You Very Much!
Downturn sees increase in dumped doggies
By Rebecca Hyman
Tue Jan 13, 2009, 06:24 PM EST
Lakeville – An 8-year-old yellow Lab mix was rescued from the side of the road in Carver on Nov. 27. He doesn’t have a name, at least not one he is able to tell his new caregivers at the Lakeville Animal Shelter.
The abandoned pooch has sweet, sad brown eyes and a friendly disposition, but he might have trouble getting adopted because of his age, Animal Control Officer David Frates said.
Frates said he’s noticed a big spike in dogs like the abandoned Labrador retriever being “dumped,” set loose away from home and left to fend for themselves, many of them in Freetown-Fall River State Forest, since the economic downturn.
“They can’t afford to go to the vets. They’re losing their houses. That’s a big thing. Landlords don’t want dogs,” Frates said.
“I think sometimes people are just backed into a corner, where they can’t get into an apartment, and they need it for their children, and they can’t find a home for the dog.”
The Lakeville Animal Shelter on Montgomery Street boards dogs for Carver, Rochester, Berkley and Freetown, in addition to the town’s own lost and abandoned animals.
Frates said he has picked up 27 dogs dumped in the state forest and the surrounding area in the last four to six weeks.
The same thing happened last year, but not so much in previous years, he said.
“It’s only happened since the economy started to get bad,” Frates said.
He said the dogs are generally found around nearby houses rather than in the forest itself. They don’t stay in the forest because there’s nothing to eat.
Frates said some people may dump their dogs instead of surrendering them to avoid the $50 fee.
He suspects the dogs that are dumped in the forest are from out of town, probably Fall River and New Bedford. Most of the dogs he finds in Freetown are lost and eventually reunited with their owners, Frates said.
He said the dumping isn’t confined to the forest, but extends to the entire surrounding area.
A couple of weeks ago a couple of German shepherds were dumped on Howland Road in Lakeville, he said.
He said the dogs are generally larger breeds such as shepherds, labs, Dobermans and boxers.
They are in fair condition for the most part and don’t show signs of abuse.
“They don’t stay out in the cold very long,” Frates said.
Sometimes, he sees indications the owner still cared about the animal.
In one case, somebody left two German shepherds in the forest with a bag of dog food, he said.
Frates said dogs come to him for a variety of reasons: they are abandoned, surrendered, lost or seized from their owners for one reason or another.
The peak time for lost dogs is around holidays such as Christmas and Thanksgiving when relatives are coming and going and dogs can bolt out the door and the Fourth of July, Frates said.
The Lakeville Animal Shelter took in 316 dogs in 2008. It also takes in cats, but just from Lakeville.
It is not a no-kill shelter but euthanizes very few dogs. Frates said 16 were put down in 2008. The shelter only euthanizes vicious dogs deemed unadoptable, he said.
Friendly dogs that simply fail to get adopted are given to rescue organizations, he said.
In 2008, 115 dogs were adopted, Frates said, while many others were reunited with their owners.
Frates used to work in the highway department. He pitched in temporarily when the former dog officer retired in the mid-1990s and decided it suited him. He loves animals but is able to resist adopting every hard luck case that comes through the door, he said.
For Frates, the job brought him full circle.
In the 1960s, his father was the town’s dog officer.
Those were the days before the town had a shelter, when the animal control officer boarded dogs in doghouses at his own house. It was Frates’ job as a child to help care for the canine houseguests.
He admits he hadn’t yet developed such steely reserve.
“We used to keep half of them in those days,” he said.
Frates said the shelter has had excellent luck finding adoptive families for abandoned dogs. Five have already been adopted out since the new year, he said.
He said one reason is the shelter has night and week-end hours. It is open Mondays from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. and Saturdays from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.
“A guy can’t tell his boss he’s going to leave work to go get a dog,” Frates said.
The shelter currently has nine dogs being boarded, five of which were either surrendered or abandoned and are available for adoption. Anyone interested in possibly adopting them may call Frates at (508) 947-3891.
Mail this postPopularity: 40% [?]
comments
Leave a Reply
Stop Puppy Mills Now!
-
