Pets rescued from home in BC, owners unable to return because of Pandemic

[Catherine]

A family in BC went away and left friends in charge of feeding their pets. Then the pandemic hit and they couldn't get back home. The friend has continued to feed the pets, but there has been no clean up. Picture it, 10 animals in a home with just food and water and no other care. The conditions were horrific.  A neighbour alerted the Regional Animal Protection Society and they have taken the pets into care. They are being housed at the Richmond Animal Shelter. The animals are all in good health, but they are a mess. They are dirty, with matted fur and flees. 


https://globalnews.ca/news/7261131/anima...-covid-19/

The people couldn't help what happened. Many people have been unable to get home. They did leave someone caring for their pets. However these are not ordinary circumstances. It has been months and it is hard to expect that anyone could carry on for months when it was probably only supposed to be a few days or weeks. The person was still feeding them.  Maybe this is something that needs to be talked about when we leave someone to care for our pets.
What happens if we don't make it back. The people could have contacted the Regional Animal Protection Society.  The animals would have been taken into care much sooner. Maybe they needed an emergency back-up person to help with animal care. They could have arranged for someone to come in and clean up the place. Maybe with that many pets they needed a house sitter. Perhaps the dogs would have been better if they had stayed with someone at their home. Cats are more self sufficient. All of these things should be considered before we leave our pets in the care of anyone. It couldn't have been easy for the person doing the care. This was way more than they knew how to deal with.

I just hope any other pets left alone because of the pandemic have alert neighbours who get them help.