In these challenging times of coronavirus pandemic, people are practicing social distancing in order to minimize the risk of spreading the disease. This proved to be tough for people of New York City, who decided to fill this void with pets.
Bloomberg reports that citizens of New York City started adopting dogs at an increased rate in these past two weeks, causing animal shelters and rescue centers to empty out. According to organizations like Muddy Paws Rescue and Best Friends Animal Society, there are little to no dogs left for adoption or fostered care in the whole city area. The cats are proving to be difficult to come by as well.
“For the moment we definitely don’t have any dogs left to match,” said Muddy Paws’ marketing director Anna Lai told Bloomberg. “Which is a great problem to have.”
Los Angeles is facing a similar problem, as the adoption and
foster care requests have seen a 70 percent increase lately.
“We’re seeing people show up in droves to foster,” said Best Friends’ Julie Castle. “We have seen the American public come together like we have never seen before.”
It’s scientifically proven that pet animals bring comfort and stress relief to humans, especially in times of crisis. This is why it doesn’t come as a surprise that people are looking for their companionship now.