BELLEVUE, Wash., March 20, 2023 – Seattle Humane says more pets are being surrendered as people struggle to keep up with rising costs.
German Shephard ‘Buttercup’ is getting lots of love at the Bellevue shelter after being found wandering last week wearing a harness with a message reading ‘help me.’
“We don’t know her real name. We named her Buttercup because she was on the Bellevue College campus, and there are a lot of buttercups blooming right now over there,” said Brandon Macz of Seattle Humane.
Situations like these have become increasingly common, according to the organization, which has seen a significant rise in surrender requests over the past year.
“We had somebody who left a cat in a carrier outside our building prior to Buttercup being found,” said Macz. “We are being inundated with all kinds of calls for help.”
While there are different circumstances behind each surrender, Seattle Humane’s intense financial challenges are forcing pet owners to make tough decisions.
“We have the housing crisis, of course, that continues, prices are going up, especially as we kind of deal with the increase in pet food, medical attention, veterinary care is very hard to acquire,” Macz said.
But Seattle Humane says there’s help available for anyone considering giving up their companion because of the costs, including its Pet Owner Assistance Fund and Pet Food Bank, which serves around 60,000 meals per month.
“It’s just always better to keep pets with people who love them.” Macz continued, “you know, there’s sometimes a scarcity of compassion out there, and we’re here to provide some of that for these pets, and the pets out there in the community.”
Staff are still searching for Buttercup’s owner, but Seattle Humane shares it’s received an outpouring of messages from people interested in adopting her.
