Pets Left Behind In Baldwin County

By Chad Petri Reporter

Home foreclosures could take part of the blame. Baldwin County animal shelters are at capacity as officials are seeing more pets being turned over. Pets Left Behind In Baldwin County

Published: Fri, July 11, 2008 - 2:45 am Last Updated: Fri, July 11, 2008 - 4:08 am

Chad Petri

Kathy Murchison is a dog lover. Her home is regularly a foster home for newly abandoned pets. She says she's seeing more homeless pets due to tough economic times.

“[One] came with a note from his family saying he's a good dog, we just can't afford to keep him anymore,” says Murchison. “I mean you're seeing a lot of that and the lucky dogs do get surrendered to the shelter.”

At Daphne's Animal shelter, the kennels are at capacity. Some dogs are doubled up and some kittens are three to a cage. Members of the Baldwin Animal Rescue Center, or BARC, say they have double the number of abandoned pets this year, thanks in part, to soaring housing foreclosures.

“Complicated this time of the year because of 4th of July there are a lot of animals that get loose on 4th of July and so the shelters are all full,” says BARC Director Kathy Eddy.

She says state law requires newly donated pets to be held for a week before being eligible for adoption.

“The more kennels that are taken up by animals that are on that 7 day hold the less space you have for animals that are adoptable,” says Eddy.