Marble – Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting business shutdowns, some pet owners have been forced to give away their animals.
“We have seen an uptick in owner surrenders because people are running into economic difficulties,” said Kirsty Waller, manager of the Valley River Humane Society. “If you’re in some type of hardship right now and feel like you cannot look after your pet, but it’s just a case of not being able to feed it, come down to the shelter or thrift store and we’ll give you some dog or cat food.”
The animal shelter regularly operates a food pantry to help feed pets whose owners face financial difficulty. However, those efforts increased over the last five months as businesses reduced employee hours or closed completely. Recognizing the need to help struggling pet owners, several organizations donated pallets of food to rescue shelters such as the one in Marble, which in turn provided the food to local citizens.
“People don’t realize what an emotional loss it would be to give up an animal during this pandemic due to not being able to feed them,” Waller said. “We don’t want to put anyone in that position. At this point, the animals are the one thing that are keeping a level of sanity in this crazy time.”
While the shelter is considered an essential business, the humane society’s thrift store, which Waller said generates about 70 percent of the animal shelter’s funds, was forced to close for six weeks due to the pandemic. However, the shelter survived with help from the community.
“It was a bit touch and go for a while, but we’ve come through it, and I think we’re stronger for it,” she said.
In 2019, the animal shelter off US. 19/74 accepted a total of 1,433 stray dogs and 1,071 stray cats, which includes animals found in Cherokee, Clay and Graham counties. Due to the large number of intakes, the shelter can only house animals for 72 hours before putting them up for adoption or transporting them to a shelter in the Northeast that may have a need for breeds of animals not traditionally found in those states.
Waller and her husband drive to rescue shelters in Connecticut, Georgia, New Jersey and New York at least once every couple of weeks.
“Some people feel like [that hold period] is not long enough, but if my dog was missing I’d know within 72 hours,” Waller said. “We can’t keep a dog in the hopes that the owner might come five days after we get them.”