After a boost in pet adoptions during the pandemic, now animal shelters across the U.S. are seeing an increase in pet surrenders, leading to overcrowding.
NEW ORLEANS – One in five households acquired a pet during the coronavirus pandemic, according to data from the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA). However, many shelters are now seeing more pets being returned.
Seven-month-old Kaleidoscope is one of those pets. The puppy was adopted during the pandemic but now lives at Zeus' Rescue, an animal rescue in New Orleans.
"She had people playing with her 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, had all their attention," Rescue Director Michelle Ingram said. "Now they're back at work and she's like, ‘Well you used to play with me all day, what am I going to do?’ So some undesirable behaviors came out and therefore she got returned to us."