Declines in pet adoptions and donations to local animal organizations appear to be another symptom of a rocky economy.
KEVIN R. WEXLER / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Amanda Dale, 4, holding 9-weekold K.C. at the Totowa Petco, where Save The Animals Rescue Team (START) of Little Falls was seeking adopters for cats and kittens. The group has added 95 animals to its adoption list over the past two months, and fewer than half of them have found homes.
Animal shelters and breed rescue groups say pet adoptions have noticeably slowed, and the money and donated supplies that support them are down as well. Also, experts say pets - especially bigger dog breeds - can be especially tough to find homes for because of the costs to care for them, and because more people are renting apartments.
"Our adoptions are so down," Debbie Ringer said of recent weeks. She is vice president of Save The Animals Rescue Team in Little Falls. "It has not picked up at all," as it usually does in summer.
START volunteers were out with about 18 cats in cages Sunday at the Totowa Petco pet supply store, which often allows local organizations to bring in felines - and sometimes dogs.
Rambunctious kittens were climbing the walls, and a black one caught the attention of Mingie Ramos and her fiancé, Dave Maida, both of Wayne. Maida said healthy cats are usually low-maintenance, so cost wasn't an issue.
"I can see if a cat has issues, it [could] get expensive," Maida said.
Dexter, the black kitten, was the only one adopted Sunday. Dexter is 16 weeks old, the average age lately of adopted cats. Ringer said that in better times the average age was 10 to 12 weeks.
Kathie Kay of START said Sunday that June and July are normally good adoption months - but not so much this year. This year, 19 pets were adopted in June and 20 in July, compared to 24 and 27, respectively, in 2007.
That means START has more pets on hand, and the organization is having a tough time finding enough volunteers to care for them. Since it has no central facility, START relies on people to care for cats and dogs in their homes until they're adopted.
Ringer said that last year START never refused animals brought to them - "but this year we're considering it." Monetary donations are also down, she said. Donation canisters in pet stores that used to bring in about $100 to $175 a week are bringing in only about $75 a week, she said. The organization is planning its first food drive.
Cristina Heattur, a volunteer at the Humane Society of Bergen County in Lyndhurst, said adoptions are also down there. So are donations, she said, especially for cat food.
"Now, people come once a month, or sometimes don't come in for months" - much less than was once the norm, she said.
High rates of home foreclosures mean an increasing number of pets are also losing their homes when people can't find pet-friendly apartments - or simply can no longer afford their pets.
One in 201 households in New Jersey is in some stage of foreclosure, according to RealtyTrac, a California company that follows the housing market. Nationwide, an estimated 400,000 homeowners are facing foreclosure.
The New Jersey Chapter of the Mid-Atlantic Great Dane Rescue League Inc. has seen increases in dogs surrendered because people can't afford to care for the giant breed.
Twelve of 20 dogs given up this year are at least 7 years old, and nine of those were given up for financial reasons, said MaryFran Cini, an adoption co-coordinator for the league who lives Boonton.
"It seems like a recurring theme this year," said Cini. Donations to the umbrella Mid-Atlantic league are also down, she said, forcing the group to do more fundraising.
Mid-year canister donations are down more for the Bloomingdale Regional Animal Shelter Society which serves six northern Passaic towns. President Nancy Snow said $1,640 has been brought in; $5,430 was raised in all of 2007. Adoptions, however, are on track, she said.
For those who want to adopt a pet but are daunted by start-up costs, shelters and breed rescue groups often include them in the adoption fee.
That was the main reason why Bloomfield resident Joan Czirbik, shopping at the Totowa Petco on Sunday morning, turned to a rescue group to adopt Elsie, a 2-year-old female greyhound.
