More On Family Pets Displaced By Foreclosure

The following links are to recent stories on the stress placed on local pet shelters due to families losing their homes to foreclosure:

Salem, New Hampshire: Shelter houses pets homeless due to foreclosure (Over the past month, those over at the Salem Animal Rescue League have noticed a trend of pets being given up by people who have lost their homes in the subprime mortgage crisis),

Placer County, California: Mortgage crisis is hurting pets, too (In January, at least 20 percent of dogs and cats surrendered to the Placer SPCA shelter came from people who "lost their homes or were having such extreme financial difficulties" that they could no longer afford to care for them),

Vero Beach, Florida: As owners lose homes, so do many Treasure Coast pets (Since September, about six people a month have been saying their loss of housing is the reason they're giving their pets to the Humane Society of Vero Beach and Indian River County),

Fremont, Ohio: Overabundance of animals (Fremont shelter has no room for pets after drop-offs) (The number of animals at the Humane Society of Sandusky County has multiplied since a year ago. And part of the problem is attributed to animals being dropped off in the night. Several of them have been severely malnourished. A local animal cruelty investigator said the recent spike could be attributed to the housing-foreclosure issue that is affecting so many people in the area. "It's an ongoing problem with the foreclosures," Hammond said. "People are finding out their dogs don't fit with them. They're leaving their animals behind."),

Saugerties, New York: Foreclosures force farm animals out (In addition to pets, foreclosures are hitting horses, mules and donkeys. The Catskill Animal Sanctuary in Ulster County has seen a dramatic rise in calls — sometimes five a day — from people looking for a shelter for their large animals. Other local shelters have not yet noticed an uptick in animals because of foreclosures. "Most people don't go into detail — 'The house is being foreclosed on' — that might be more personal than they want to get with me," said Adam Saunders, shelter manager of the Ulster County SPCA, "but the most common reason is, 'I have to move, I can't take the pet with me.' It would make sense that that is happening more because there are more foreclosures going on."). See also, Money woes bring animals to shelter (NY Daily News).

Brentwood, California: Pets a growing casualty of the real estate market (As the real estate market continues to languish and foreclosures become more and more common, unwanted furniture isn’t the only thing being left behind when a mortgage turns upside down).

Illinois: Dogs, cats latest victims of subprime-mortgage mess (Animals lose families as owners lose homes) ("We're seeing quite a few animals being surrendered due to economic reasons, including foreclosure," said Angie Wood, assistant executive director of the Naperville Area Humane Society, [...] "We're probably getting 25 [animals] a week coming to us for those reasons," said Terri Sparks, a spokesman for The Animal Welfare League in Chicago, which works with 53 municipalities on animal-control issues. "It's probably increased a lot in the past six to seven months." Linda Gelb, president of Community Animal Rescue Effort, which works through the Evanston Animal Shelter, said her group has taken in four dogs in the past three weeks because their owners were losing their homes. [...] Authorities around the country in recent months have reported numerous findings of cats, dogs, birds, horses and other animals at foreclosed houses and farms. Among the more notorious cases, animals were found in large number -- three dogs and 20 birds in a house in Lorain, Ohio; 24 horses on a farm in Bixby, Okla.; and 63 cats in a house in Cincinnati. It was too late when authorities got to a foreclosed house in Bradford, Pa., to discover the bodies of 21 Great Danes. The owner on Thursday pleaded guilty to 21 counts of animal cruelty.)

For more on foreclosures and family pets, see Foreclosures & Pets I, and see Foreclosures & Pets II. petsII and foreclosures

"Brisk Business" At Boston-Area Animal Shelters

In Massachusetts, The Boston Globe reports on the strain being felt by Boston-area animal shelters as home foreclosures are causing increasing numbers of people to give up their pets:

• Across the region, dogs and cats are arriving at shelters in growing numbers, as their owners face foreclosures and head to temporary homes, such as rental units or relatives' houses, where pets are not permitted or may not be welcome.

***

• In the last three months, owners displaced by foreclosures surrendered some 30 animals, including a Chihuahua this week, at the Animal Rescue League of Boston. At the Brockton MSPCA Shelter, officials estimate that half of the dozen dogs brought in for surrender this month were from foreclosed homeowners. At the Worcester Animal Rescue League, so many dogs and cats from foreclosed homes have been surrendered, including 10 cats last week, that the director created a policy that permits the animals to remain in the shelter at no cost for 90 days while their owners search for pet-friendly housing. If the owners are not able to find suitable homes in the time period, the animals go up for adoption.

***

• Most troubling, shelter officials say, are pets deserted by homeowners in the upheaval of foreclosure and found later by neighbors and strangers who can't relay their medical and family histories.

For more, see Owners lose home, and pets suffer, too.

For more on foreclosures and family pets, go here, and go here. petsII and foreclosures

Abandonment Of Family Pets & Foreclosures

In Northern California, a recent story in the San Jose Mercury News serves as a reminder that family pets are a continuing casualty in the boom in home foreclosures. Excerpts from the story:

• "People are losing their homes, and animals are the fallout of that," said Cecily Tippery, a Coldwell Banker agent who specializes in foreclosed properties, and now also in rescuing pets left behind. Here in one of the nation's foreclosure hotbeds, Tippery and her colleagues say they have found several pets in abandoned homes -- enough to spread the animal care workload among them.

***

• No one has documented the number of pets turning up after foreclosures, but there is anecdotal evidence of a statewide problem, said Paul Bruce, regional program coordinator for the Sacramento regional office of the Humane Society of the United States. Foreclosures are "leaving the cities with all of the problems, including animals that have been left behind," said Bruce.

***

• For Tippery, the problem has grown into a rallying cry for a "no-kill" shelter in the city. Some of the pets that her agents have found are older or sick or have no veterinary records. Neither Contra Costa County nor Antioch maintain no-kill shelters, and Tippery said the agents are reluctant to send the pets to them. Local rescue groups lack resources to pay for veterinary care. The agents in some cases have paid for health checks on the forsaken pets and developed a network of potential adopters. [...] The pets are considered personal property and cannot be removed [from vacant foreclosed homes] until 18 days after a foreclosure sale. The banks, the agents say, do not want the agents to feed them. They do it anyway.

For more, see Pets becoming casualty of foreclosure.

For more on "foreclosure pets", go here and go here. petsII and foreclosures

Las Vegas Animal Shelters Maxed Out On "Foreclosure Pets"

In Nevada, the Las Vegas Review Journal reports:

• While local pet owners have long been giving up their animals when they move, the housing crunch has contributed to an alarming increase in what many have dubbed "foreclosure pets." And Las Vegas facilities are overwhelmed with them, animal rescue and shelter representatives say. "It is the No. 1 way we're getting animals right now," says [Doug] Duke, the executive director of the Nevada SPCA. "We've really noticed it in the last three months and it seems to be escalating on a weekly basis."

• Duke says the SPCA has received a goose, ducks, numerous chickens, rabbits, guinea pigs, a potbellied pig and ferrets recently. Cats and dogs make up the majority of the foreclosure pets, though. It's hard to keep track of the numbers because the shelter receives so many calls, Duke adds, but he estimates 150 animals a month are coming in because their owners give them up or leave them behind when they lose their homes. Las Vegas is among the leaders in the nation in foreclosures.

For more, see Overwhelming Situation: Innocent Victims (Animal shelters full of pets that are abandoned during home foreclosures).

For more on foreclosures and abandoned animals, go here and go here. petsII and foreclosures

Add Horses To The List Of Those Losing Their Homes To Foreclosure

In Minnesota, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports:

• The ever-worsening story of foreclosures in America now counts among its victims the family dog, the pet cat and even the farmer's horse. [...] "I'm getting skinny horses in here that people have walked away from," said Drew Fitzpatrick, director of the Minnesota Hooved Animal Rescue Foundation, based in Zimmerman, Minn. It used to be that for every abandoned horse there was a story of mental illness, divorce or cancer of its owner, said Fitzpatrick. "Now it's bankruptcy and ARM foreclosure. Rural America is really starting to get punched."

***

• The problem has been exceedingly acute for horse owners, who were already facing high feed costs because of rising commodity prices and the recent elimination of horse slaughterhouses in America. That market -- a federal ban recently closed the last three such slaughterhouses in the United States -- once provided horse owners with an option that paid about $600 per horse, when there was nowhere else to turn. Reports have cropped up of horses wandering the Florida Everglades and coal mines in Kentucky, where owners too poor to care for them have set them free to forage on their own. A horse owner recently euthanized more than 80 horses, most of them Shetland ponies, in Grey Eagle, Minn., northwest of St. Cloud, because of rising feed costs and her own poor health. [...] Fitzpatrick, of the Hooved Animal Rescue Foundation, said she took a call this week from the sheriff in Morrison County in central Minnesota, who reported a herd of horses running free in the area. "He just said it looks like another foreclosure," she said.

For more, see Four walls no more for 4-legged friends (As more Minnesotans lose their homes to foreclosure, many are finding they're also forced to give up their pets and livestock).

See also, Pioneer Press: All the Dying Horses: Neglect cases soaring in Minnesota (Horse neglect and starvation are on the rise in Minnesota, the result of a suddenly sour economy. Some experts call it the Hobby Horse Syndrome. Drew Fitzpatrick, who devotes her life to rescuing the animals, is less polite) (when this link expires, try here) for the same story).

For more on foreclosures and family pets, go here, and go here. petsII and foreclosures

Reptiles, Horses, Potbellied Pigs, Exotic Cats Not Immune To Foreclosures

In Hesperia, California, the Victorville Daily Press reports:

• More than 200 reptiles worth an estimated $90,000 were found abandoned in a freezing, filthy room attached to a garage in Hesperia. Most were alive, though weak. Some had died from the cold or dehydration, including two gila monsters. “This is absolutely the biggest reptile rescue I’ve ever done by far,” said Joel Almquist, owner of the non-profit Forever Wild Exotic Animal Sanctuary in Phelan.

***

• Though the investigation by Hesperia Code Enforcement and Animal Control is still underway, Almquist suspects the reptiles may be the latest victims of the foreclosure epidemic sweeping across the High Desert. “I’ve been getting a lot of calls like that lately,” he said. Not long ago, a real estate agent called Almquist after finding six potbellied pigs abandoned at a foreclosed property. [...] The same thing happened with six sickly thoroughbred horses that a man brought by a few months back. [...] Almquist has also gotten calls from Norco Animal Control asking him to take an African Serval Cat, and Fish and Game about an alligator found in a foreclosed home in Fontana.

For more, see 200 reptiles abandoned in Hesperia.

For more on foreclosures and abandoned animals, see Foreclosures & Pets I, and see Foreclosures & Pets II. petsII and foreclosures

More Incidents Involving Abandoned Foreclosure Pets

In Gwinnett County, Georgia, the Atlanta Journal Constitution recently ran a story on the increase in foreclosure pets in the area. A couple of excerpts:

• One abandoned dog Lt. Mary Lou Respess can't get out of her mind is a Chihuahua. He'd been tied up so long, said the Gwinnett County Animal Shelter manager, his collar had gotten embedded in his skin and had to be surgically removed. He's one of hundreds whose owners have left them behind.

***

• Joey Brooks, one of two cruelty investigators with Gwinnett County Animal Control, said he's definitely getting more calls about abandoned pets — usually dogs. He responded to one call about two weeks ago, he said. The power was turned off and so was the water. But three labs were tied up in the back yard. Neighbors had been feeding the dogs in this "decent neighborhood in Duluth," he said, but there was already a real estate sign out front. "That's what's weird," Brooks said. "We'll come across ones where [For Sale] signs are already in the front yard, but pets are still tied up out back." [...] Even that's preferable, Brooks said, to finding former pets trapped inside houses, without food or water or any way to get outside to do their business.

***

• [Homeowner] Steve Miller who lives outside Norcross in unincorporated Gwinnett, said the problem of abandoned dogs hit too close to home last week. On Friday, a pair he believes were left behind by a neighbor killed one of his cats. He'd been calling animal control all week, Miller said. But it wasn't until he reported the dogs had killed his cat Curly that an officer came out and caught one of the dogs, he said. The other dog hasn't been seen since.

For more, see More pets being abandoned after foreclosures.

For more on foreclosures and abandoned animals, see Foreclosures & Pets I and see Foreclosures & Pets II. petsII and foreclosures

NBC Nightly News On Foreclosure Pets & Domestic Livestock

NBC Nightly News ran a piece last Saturday on the recent increase in the numbers of pets and domestic livestock at pet shelters and animal sanctuaries. Among the primary reasons, it is believed, are foreclosures and other economic pressures. To view the NBC report, watch Animal House.

For more on foreclosures and abandoned animals, see Foreclosures & Pets I, and see Foreclosures & Pets II. petsII and foreclosures

Akron Animal Shelter Affected By Area Foreclosures

In Akron, Ohio, the Akron Beacon Journal reports:

• The Humane Society of Greater Akron, which rescues ill, injured, abused or neglected animals, is struggling to house 200 dogs and 200 or so cats in a facility designed for only 125 animals, said new executive director Karen Conklin. She has issued a plea for adoptions. The animals ''just keep coming,'' she said this week inside the ramshackle shelter -- a former barn attached to a two-story building on Quick Road in Boston Township. [...] Conklin speculated that the the high foreclosure rate is contributing to the overcrowding. She theorized that pet owners are forced to move into properties that don't allow pets. ''Our humane officers are definitely seeing people leaving animals behind'' in foreclosed properties, said Conklin [...] .

For more, see Akron area Humane Society shelter packed with dogs and cats.

For more on foreclosures and family pets, go here, and go here. petsII and foreclosures

More On Abandoned Pets & Foreclosures

In Vallejo, California, the Times-Herald reports:

• A holiday surge in unwanted pets is filling kennels and creating a need for more animal adoptions, a Vallejo-Benicia Humane Society worker said Wednesday. "During November and December, we usually see a surge in the number of surrenders," said Peter Wilson, director of humane services at the no-kill shelter, which includes 20 kennels for so-called adoptable dogs and 30 for cats. [...] While other cities and counties have reported more abandoned animals in the wake of the foreclosure crisis, Solano County animal rescue workers said there is little evidence of a direct correlation locally.

For more, see Unwanted pets fill kennels in Vallejo.

For more on "foreclosure pets", go here and go here. petsII and foreclosures

North Miami Home In Foreclosure A Death House For Over 50 Pets

In North Miami, Florida, WPLG-TV Channel 10 reports:

• Animal control officers removed two more mangy, malnourished and neglected animals -- this time cats -- from a woman's North Miami home Tuesday. It was the same home of Beverly Prady, who was arrested and charged with animal cruelty after 78 sick, crippled and bloodied dogs were removed from the residence Monday. Prady had close to 90 animals living with her in a dilapidated house at 990 NE 10th Ave. Animal control officers said 90 percent of those animals had to be euthanized.

***

• Neighbors said Prady might have had mental problems. Neighbors said Prady paid off the home years ago and that it simply fell apart around her. However, according to civil documents, Katline Realty was foreclosing on the property. Katline Realty owner Charlie Klar told Local10's Rob Schmitt that Prady recently ran out of money and borrowed $147,000 from him against her house.

• Schmitt asked Klar why he would approve a mortgage considering the home's condition. "I basically like to lose money," he said. "I've made so much of it." [North Miami Mayor Kevin] Burns said the city would investigate the foreclosure and whether Prady was taken advantage of possibly because she's mentally unstable.

For the story, see Most Animals Removed From Home Euthanized (North Miami Woman Charged With Animal Cruelty).

See also, Miami New Times: Dozens of Dogs Die (A tale of 78 abused pets and two peculiar people).

For more on "foreclosure pets", go here and go here. petsII and foreclosures

"No Paws Left Behind" Web Site To Help Foreclosure Pets Find Housing Options

DS News reports:

• A few short months after Integrated Mortgage Solutions President Cheryl Lang conceptualized the idea of starting a Web site to help pets left behind in foreclosures, her new nonprofit Web site No Paws Left Behind (www.NoPawsLeftBehind.org) has officially launched to give families with pets a place to find security for their furry friends.

• Lang designed No Paws Left Behind as a 501c3 nonprofit organization, where visitors can type in their zip codes and find local animal shelters and other housing options for the animals they can’t afford to take with them. Lang also has created an online petition that encourages citizens to ask policy makers to change laws that are currently delaying the animal rescue process when dealing with foreclosures.

For more, see No Paws Left Behind Web Site Officially Launches.

For more on "foreclosure pets", go here and go here. petsII and foreclosures

New Jersey Man Facing Foreclosure Charged With Animal Cruelty; Remains Of 64 Animals Found In Home

In Barnegat Township, New Jersey, The Press of Atlantic City reports:

• The explanation from an Ocean County man as to why 64 dead animals were found in his home was that he was running a rescue operation, authorities said Tuesday. Matthew Teymant, 29, was arrested Tuesday morning at his parents' home in Toms River on animal cruelty charges, authorities said. Yesterday, police made the gruesome discovery of dozens of dead animals at a township home on Potomac Court that was last owned by Matthew and Amanda Teymant.

***

• SPCA Sgt. Thomas Yanisko said Tuesday the 64 dead animals found in the home included dogs, cats, hamsters, guinea pigs and turtles, all in different stages of decomposition. [...] "During an interrogation, Matthew Teymant basically said they were ...(rescuing) ... and adopting them out," [spokesman for the state Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Matt] Stanton said. "This is your typical case of a person who thinks they are a rescue operation and tries to do the right thing and goes crazy." [...] Ocean County public records include notice of foreclosure on the property through Countrywide Home Loans on June 14, 2007.

For more, see Police charge couple after 64 dead animals found in Barnegat home.

See also:

• WNBC-TV Channel 4: N.J. Couple Arrested After 64 Dead Animals Found Inside Home,
• The Press of Atlanyic City: Group calls Toms River man animal hoarder.

For more on "foreclosure pets", go here and go here. petsII and foreclosures

Three Pigs, Walgreen Drugstore Heir's Ex-Wife Set To Lose Home As $3.3M Mansion/Pigpen Faces Foreclosure

In Lake Forest, Illinois, according to Illinois media reports:

• The former wife of an heir to the Walgreen drugstore fortune says she is moving out of her Lake Forest mansion, and taking her three Vietnamese potbellied pigs with her. The three pigs, Pinky, Piggy and Cooper, weigh about 200 pounds apiece and were the objects of a lawsuit filed last year by a neighbor couple who complained that they were noisy, smelly and potentially dangerous. Their owner, Estelle Gonzales Walgreen, said [recently] she plans to move out of the $3.3 million mansion because of financial problems. She bought the mansion after her 2006 divorce from Charles R. Walgreen, but said she recently defaulted on the mortgage loan after her manufacturing business in Wisconsin went bankrupt.

***

• The Lake Forest home where Estelle Walgreen got city permission to keep three pot-bellied pigs until 2011 is slated for a Lake County Sheriff's foreclosure sale March 24.

Sources:

• The Associated Press: 3 pigs will move out of Illinois mansion,
• CBS 2 Chicago: Woman Gets To Keep Pigs, But Not Her House.

For more on "foreclosure pets", go here and go here. petsII and foreclosures

Foreclosing Lender Set To Repossess Colorado Cat House; Pets Seeking New Home

In Teller County, Colorado, KMGH-TV Channel 7 reports:

• They are animals without a home, dozens of cats, three dogs and a rabbit, whose owner is facing foreclosure. Now, authorities in Teller County are trying to find new homes for the animals. "It's more that just a foreclosure," said Mary Steinbeiser, manager of the Teller County animal shelter. "This woman was hording cats. She was a collector and she just kept bringing them home without spaying or neutering them." [...] The shelter manager said conditions were deplorable inside the house. "There was feces everywhere and no running water." "We are looking for foster homes for these animals," said Aubrey Eastman of Dreampower Animal Rescue in Colorado Springs. [...] The bank [was] expected to take possession of the owner's house this [past] Thursday and lock the doors.

For more, see Foreclosure Leaves Cats, Dogs, Rabbit Needing New Homes. (read story) (watch report).

For story update, see The Colorado Springs Gazette: Dozens of cats left behind in foreclosed home are missing.

For more on "foreclosure pets", go here and go here. petsII and foreclosures

More Surprises For Real Estate Investors To Look Out For

KGW-TV Channel 8 in Portland, Oregon recently ran a story about a novel approach used by a homeowner facing foreclosure in addressing his financial situation. For more, see

1) Man uses pigs to trash own house after foreclosure,
2) watch KGW-TV Channel 8 News Report,
3) Follow up report, Charges possible after pigs rescued from foreclosed home.

For more on foreclosures and family pets, go here, and go here. petsII and foreclosures

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The San Francisco Chronicle recently reported a story about the problems landlords face when their tenants turn a rental home into a marijuana "grow room." The story includes the plight faced by one landlord who actually went through this nightmare - the pot-growing tenant actually threatened to sue the landlord -- for mold. For more, see Hard to just say 'no' to marijuana-growing tenants. pot grow ops alpha

Realtors-Turned-Animal Rescuers Seek Adoptive Homes For Four-Legged Foreclosure Victims

In East Contra Costa County, California, KGO-TV Channel 7 reports:

• People aren't the only ones losing their homes to the worsening mortgage crisis. Here in the Bay Area, pets are being abandoned when their owners are forced to move out. However, a group of realtors in East Contra Costa County has taken it upon themselves to offer these animals a helping hand.

For more, see Canine casualties of the mortgage crisis.

For more on foreclosures and family pets, go here, and go here. petsII and foreclosures

NBC Nightly News On "Foreclosure Pets"

In Seattle, Washington, the NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams ran a story on Wednesday night on the foreclosure pet problem being reported all over the country. In addition to cats and dogs, horses, pigs, and goats are among those other pets seeking their own form of "foreclosure rescue."

To watch the story, see Foreclosure Pets (video only; bad link corrected 6/28/08, 11:30 a.m.)

For other posts on foreclosure pets, go here and go here. petsII and foreclosures

Investigation Of Neighborhood Stench From Boarded Up Bank Foreclosure Reveals Remains Of 50 Cats

In New Haven, Connecticut, the New Haven Independent reports:

• As the skeletal remains of 50 abandoned felines were removed from a foreclosed-upon Quinnipiac Avenue house Thursday, City Hall’s Andy Rizzo vowed that his anti-blight agency will take lessons from the episode as it confronts a new wave of abandoned homes. Rizzo, director of New Haven’s Liveable City Initiative (LCI), spoke at a press conference one day after neighbors alerted TV stations to an overpowering stench that led to the mound of cat remains in a basement apartment of the boarded-up house at 467 Quinnipiac Ave. The bank that foreclosed upon the house earlier this year sent a cleaning crew to remove the remains Thursday, Rizzo said. LCI had received repeated calls and emails from neighbors about the stink coming from the house, beginning last fall.

***

• This isn’t the first cat-overrun hovel [police department’s animal control officer Stephani] Johnson has encountered. In the summer of 2007, for instance, she was called to a Girard Avenue home where 94 cats were living. She had them removed.

For more, see LCI: We’ll Learn From Cat-House Disaster.

For more on "foreclosure pets", go here and go here. petsII and foreclosures