May 20, 2008 7:30 pm US/Eastern
Foreclosure "Fidos" Have To Fend For Themselves
Shelters Flooded With Pets Abandoned After Foreclosures
MIAMI (CBS4) ―
They say that dogs are man's best friend, but in the wake of the foreclosure crisis plaguing South Florida, more and more 'best friends' are having to fend for themselves.
Pets, dozens if not hundreds, are being left behind every week. In fact,
CBS4's David Sutta has learned the situation has become quite desperate.
Recently, he spent some time with Robbie Coy who has made it his mission to rescue dogs left behind when their owners move away. The discarded pets wind up at Coy's animal shelter in south Miami Dade.
Coy said he used to average about 60 dogs at any given time, now he can't build new pens fast enough.
"Over the last 6-8 months it's become where there is more dogs than there is space," said Coy.
In a row of cage 3 football fields long, Coy shuffles more than 130 dogs.
"We get calls on a regular basis," said Coy. "We're losing our house. We have to move to a smaller home or I've got to move in with my parents and I can't bring my dogs. It's an epidemic is what it is. It's non-stop and it's been going on for about a year."
Many caught in the 'epidemic' never see it coming.
Erica Newman of North Ft. Lauderdale said she certainly didn't.
"This was like heaven. Big bedroom. Huge house. Wood flooring perfect for a dog! So I was like yessss," said Newman when she first rented her place.
Newman said she had the perfect place until her landlord was foreclosed on and she had two days to pack and leave.
"Everything I had," said Newman, "packed up in a storage unit and gone. It sucks."
Newman said she was able to find a new place to live, but she couldn't bring her dog which she had had since it was a puppy; so she put him on Craigslist.
"I drove him all the way up to Palm Beach on like an hour notice and she took him in. It was really, really tough," said Newman. "It's so hard to find a place that takes dogs. Especially a one bedroom and having a 60 pound dog. It's really rough. It's not easy."
"This issue with pets left on foreclosure properties is a new issue for us," said Doctor Sarah Pizzano, director of the
Miami Dade Animal Shelter. "It may have happened once every couple of years in the past. Now it's weekly. So we're definitely seeing this as a serious problem."
To make matters worse, Pizzano said they are also experiencing a related problem; a 20-percent drop off in adoptions.
"I think that people are in such serious financial crisis that just feeding their family and paying for gas and getting the basics for their family are really their priorities. So unfortunately it's the pets that are left behind," said Pizzano.
But as some families fall behind, others step up.
Raphael Rodriguez left his job as an administrator with Jackson Memorial Hospital to shelter more than 100 dogs in Hialeah.
"I don't want to see them suffer in the street," said Rodriguez.
At Coy's farm, he now has a full time helper in George Arellano whose house was foreclosed on in January.
"We'll see where life takes us from here after foreclosure hell," said Arellano.
In his efforts to save the dogs, Coy's house has been foreclosed on. He said he couldn't let one dog die just to save his house.
Coy and others who run shelters that take in animals that have been left behind say a short term solution to the problem would be for landlords, particularly in apartment complexes, need to be more flexible in their pet restrictions.
Another would be for county officials in Broward and Miami Dade to consider a law enacted by Palm Beach County earlier this year which made it the first in Florida to make spaying and neutering mandatory for all cats and dogs. County officials anticipate that as more and more pet owners follow the law, the pet population will shrink.
If you'd like to help you can contact:
Robbie Coy
Sabbath Animal Rescue (305)-799-1567
Raphael Rodriguez
Animal Rescue
(786) 314-1778
Miami Dade Animal ShelterBroward County Animal Services
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