Animals find refuge during pandemic
By Raven Ash
While Covid-19 is an uncertain time for most, not everyone is at a disadvantage. Animals shelters across the country are emptying their cages, some for the first time ever. More and more animals are finding a home during the current pandemic.
With people home from work and shelters being closed, people everywhere are stepping up to foster and adopt animals.
Many animal shelters have received grants from various organizations and corporations. These grants allow the shelters to reduce animal adoption fees to an affordable fee. Low adoption fees make it easier for families to give a home to shelter animals during a time when money is tight.
The Quincy Humane Society will also be offering reduced adoption fees with the help of Bissell Pet Foundation. Beginning May 9 through May 17, the humane society will be participating in Bissell Pet Foundation’s Empty the Shelters event. During the event, the adoption fee for all available animals will be 25 dollars. To maintain social distancing guidelines, the event will be appointment only. An approved adoption application is also required.
People who will be too busy to permanently care for an animal once they return to work are choosing to foster animals. Fostering animals during the Covid-19 crisis prevents the animals from staying in closed shelters where it is likely they will have little human interaction.
Fostering and adopting animals is not only a win for the animals, but it could also create some relief from loneliness and stress that stem from the ongoing stay-at-home orders.
“And in this time, when we’re required to be distant from one another, they’re playing a particularly relevant role in helping us manage isolation and loneliness,” Philip Tedeschi, executive director of the Institute for Human-Animal Connection at the University of Denver, told PBS NewsHour.
While shelters are happy that the animals are finding homes, they hope that the animals are not returned to the shelter after the pandemic.