quote:

VIOLET, La. – Double-bunked behind the bars at the overrun St. Bernard Animal Shelter are more victims of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill: shiny-coated Labrador retrievers, long-haired Chihuahuas and a fluffy Shih Tzu.

Among the more typical skinny, stray mutts are healthy, seemingly well-tended dogs whose owners, because of the massive spill, suddenly don't have the time or money to keep them.

"It's the economy, the uncertainty of the future, for sure," said shelter director Beth Brewster, who saw 117 owners surrender their animals last month — up from 17 in June 2009.

May was particularly bad, Brewster said: The Violet shelter took in 288 animals that month, compared with 60 in May 2009.

Dean Howard of the Louisiana Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said several coastal parishes began reporting a spike in owner relinquishments immediately after the spill.

In St. Bernard Parish, nearly every livelihood is somehow connected to the Gulf. Fishermen normally ply the waters for seafood. Offshore rig workers drill for oil and longshoremen unload a never-ending flow cargo ships on the Mississippi River.

But the April 20 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig, which killed 11 workers and continues to spew millions of gallons of oil into the water, has created multiple problems for pet owners.

Sasha, a rust-colored Lab mix, was dropped off with nine 1-day-old puppies by a BP oil worker who suddenly had more work than he could handle and no time for the dogs, animal control officer Shannon Asevedo said.

The Shih Tzu was given up by a parish employee who told Brewster he's now too busy, too.

Other dogs and cats were abandoned by fishermen whose incomes were abruptly cut off and by families forced to downsize, moving into apartments that prohibit pets.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/201...il_spill_pet_dumping

That's heart breaking news.

 
Pets are being given up because owners are too busy working on the spill clean-up -AND- pets are being given up because owners aren't working at all due to the oil spill.

Am I the only one to see a symbiotic relationship in the making...?

Mayhaps a local church or radio station or shelter could set up a pet-swapping service... temporary, of course... whereby those working too many hours could pay those not working enough hours to care for both sets of pets?

*CJ

 
I found the St. Bernard Animal Shelter's web site, then their email address and just posted an email to 'em describing my idea of pet owners who aren't working taking in, temporarily, the pets of those who're working too much.

Mebbe they can set up some sorta matching service for those interested in participating.

*CJ

CJ, I would suggest contacting Mr. & Mrs. T. Boone Pickens about this. They are the ones who provided planes to transport Katrina animals all over the U.S. This is how I got Lou-Lou. It was a wonderful operation.

quote:

That's heart breaking news.

That's heart breaking news.