Animal shelters hit by recession, just starting to recover

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The MSPCA is the biggest of the Boston shelters and it experienced the strain in various areas. It received more animals, lost a lot of its normal donations and ended up closing three shelters in Brockton, Springfield and Martha's Vineyard, said Kennedy. "Animals are often not though of or there are not enough funds to go around," said Kennedy.

Kennedy said the shelter has definitely seen an increase in animal numbers and surrenders during the recession time frame. "We find them everywhere. Found them in the parking lot, bathroom, in taped up boxes in the library," said Kennedy about abandoned pets. "It's hard to give exact numbers of how many turn-ins were related to the recession because it can be multiple reasons that lead up to the surrender or abandonment of a pet," said Kennedy.

She said that about two years ago, foreclosure was added to the list of reasons why people turned in pets. "Internally we believe a huge amount is from foreclosure from the recession," said Kennedy. Peter Gollub, head of the MSPCA law enforcement, agreed that his agency has had more abandonment cases since the recession. "The economic turndown is not a valid excuse to willfully abandon an animal, but it happens," Gollub said. While the shelter did take in more animals but fewer donations, it was able to continue to function. Kennedy said it was able to do so because the MSPCA controls the allocation of funds and was able to make the necessary cuts without having to cut any of the shelter's programs.

The MSPCA was also fortunate and saw a rise in volunteers during the recession, something Kennedy believes might be due to people without jobs needing something to fill their day. The ARL experienced similar issues as the MSPCA. Wooliscroft also said that it is difficult to gauge the number of animals that were at the shelter due to the recession. However, the ARL also added foreclosure to its list of reasons for surrendering a pet. "We started hearing foreclosure as a reason more often and they hadn't before," said Wooliscroft.

However, the ARL runs on appointment only; which means people cannot just drop their pets off like they can at the MSPCA. "We weren't going to be in a position of too many animals and not enough cages," said Wooliscroft. A drop in donations, however, has really hurt the ARL, making it harder to get the strays the medical care they need, Wooliscroft said. "Stray animals have nowhere to turn but us," she said. She added that without the money coming in, ARL's ability to care for the animals is affected.

Though the country is said to have come out of the recession, both shelters said financially they are not back to where they should be. Kennedy said the donations have started to get better but that they are not where they were prior to the recession.

The ARL is in a similar position. "We're crossing our fingers for the end of the year because that is when 40 percent of charitable donations are made," said Wooliscroft. Those who take care of animals in need are hoping to see the funding increase, while abandonments decrease, which would be a dramatic change from the trends during this economic downturn.