During the month of March, we are partnering with Valley Outreach in Stillwater to collect pet food as part of their special FoodShare month-long drive. Details on how to donate are on our homepage, and here’s a little background information. The genesis of the idea came from our participation in 2005 in a pet supply collection organized by the Minnesota Veterinary Medical Association in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Local newspaper readers might remember this photo celebrating that effort. Our partnership with Valley Outreach is based on their concern about some clients who have needed to give up their beloved pets because of the expense of buying pet food. “Pet food is something people don’t always think about donating”, says Kate Krisik, the Executive Director at Valley Outreach. “It’s difficult for us to keep it in stock. We’re grateful to Cedar Pet Clinic Lake Elmo for the help in gathering up donations.”
National Public Radio aired a story… two years ago… called The Recession and Pets: Hard Times for Snoopy. Here’s a digest:
“Because of the economic downturn, Americans are being ousted from their homes and, in many cases, forced to give up their pets for adoption.
“Take, for instance, Snoopy, a 7-year-old Labrador-shepherd mix, and Sheba, a 5-year-old blue heeler mix. Their owner, Edward Jones, 43, was recently evicted from his rental house in Lakeview, Ore.
“For the past seven years, Jones has had steady construction work pouring concrete. When the economy turned sour, he lost his job, then his $400-a-month home. "I couldn't make the rent. Couldn't do it. Couldn't do it," Jones says. Finally the landlord tossed Jones — and his two dogs — out on the street.
“As stopgap lodging, Jones found a subsidized room at a local motel. But dogs are not allowed there. So, with tears in his eyes, Jones put Snoopy and Sheba in the back of his Jeep pickup, drove to the Oregon Outback Humane Society and gave his dogs up for adoption. "Hopefully," he says, choking back emotion, "they'll find a good home."
"The toll on pets is just as big as on people," says Dawn Lauer of the Humane Society of the United States. "We are seeing many more pets relinquished to shelters or abandoned because of the recession."
