Animal Care Center seeing increase in pet surrenders
JACKSON, Tenn. — A local organization is seeing an increase in owners surrendering their pets.
“We do see a slight uptick in animals surrendered around the holidays,” said Whitney Owen, Director of the Animal Services for the City of Jackson.
Owen says many people look to surrender their pets.
“After the holidays, most of the animals that we have come in were animals that were purchased as gifts. I would say less than 1% of the animals we have returned were adopted for themselves and then rethought afterwards,” Owen said.
She says there are other reasons why people give their animals up.
“If health issues come up, people tend to be a little more strapped for cash around the holidays. We see people who are going to be traveling a lot,” Owen said.
Because of this, they have to give priorities to certain ones.
“We schedule out our owner surrenders. We have to be available to the animals that are an imminent danger or that pose an imminent risk. We do want to be there for pet owners, but also our responsibility has to lie with the general public and the taxpayers first,” Owen said.
She says to be mindful when giving a pet as a present to someone.
“We honestly don’t recommend gifting an animal to anybody outside of your immediate household. So unless that you are the parent that makes the physical and financial decisions for your household, I wouldn’t surprise anybody with an animal,” Owen said.
You can help give these pets a forever home. Click here to see adoptable pets and more.
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