Surrendering-pets trend at Gulf Coast Humane Society raises concerns

An overwhelming amount of pets are being surrendered by their owners. Nearly half of the dogs at the Gulf Coast Humane Society were surrendered.

WINK News visited the humane society, which said they have no room for more pets.

According to the Gulf Coast Humane Society, this time last year, 219 owner surrender applications were received. This year, there are 115 more, sitting at 334.

“We are averaging, this is on the low end, probably five to seven a day,” Brian Wierima said from the Gulf Coast Humane Society.

“Treat them like family. If you treat them and you feel they are family, you will do everything in your power to keep them and not come here,” said Wierima. “Use us as the last option.”

Brian said the best thing to do is to try to find the pet another home first.

“There’s nothing that compares to a forever home,” said Wierima.

Why are people giving up their pets?

There are several reasons. The biggest is that people are moving from their homes. Other reasons include not being able to take care of the pet and the inability to afford it, or medical reasons, which is Stella Carpenter’s case.

“It was a very, very hard decision to make,” Carpenter said.

She recently had surgery on her face, so for medical reasons, she was forced to surrender her dog.

“I called the shelter, and I said I think I need to return ludo because it can’t take care of him,” Carpenter said.

WINK News Reporter Olivia Jean sat with her as she told me about Ludo. She wanted her home to be his forever home.

Ludo has bounced from home to home, but not for reasons he could control.

She got emotional, as she recalled when she took Ludo back to the shelter.

“Oh my gosh, okay. It’s terrible. I’m sorry. He got out of the car. He knew that morning,” Carpenter said.

Ludo gave her a partner after her husband died two months ago.

“He’s such a good boy. And he loves everybody. You know, this dog should not be in a shelter by himself. He should be with someone that he can just have that person and their friends for companionship. He’s very, very social and just a lovely, lovely pet,” Carpenter said.

Ludo is up for adoption at the ARC shelter. He is easy to get along with and needs a new home. The Gulf Coast Humane Society also has many cats and other dogs.