Plenty of work for pet lovers in real world

The two Labrador retrievers’ story was enough to break a dog lover’s heart.

The e-mail sent to thousands of addresses in the South Sound begged for someone to keep lifelong buddies Cookie and Coco together. Their owner and her three children had lost their home and were moving to an apartment that did not allow pets.

The response was exactly what you would expect. A landlord offered to rent the family a house that allows pets. The owner of a kennel said he would keep the dogs until they could find a home. Someone checked with the Prison Pet Partnership at the Washington Correctional Center for Women in Purdy to see if clients ever need two assistance dogs.

I have no idea how many people here replied to the e-mail with an offer to take both dogs.

I do know Coco and Cookie are either safe or they don’t exist.

Kelly Nelson, president of the Kindred Souls Foundation animal rescue group, checked out the plea. A source in Idaho pegged it as spam. An e-mail to the owner traced it to Southern California, where the dogs are reportedly happy together in a new home. The owner reported that 2,500 people offered to take the dogs. And that’s before the e-mail got circulating around here.

As the economy gets nastier, that’s good news. There’s a growing number of good dogs and cats who need a new home because their people can no longer afford them.

Friday morning, Kathleen Olson, executive director of the Humane Society for Tacoma and Pierce County, spoke with a woman who’d lost her home and now has to part with her kitty. It’s the third pet Olson knows has come to the shelter specifically because of a foreclosure.

More are coming in because people have to go to cheaper rentals, are moving in with family or have begun cutting the sweetness out of their lives.

Suzi Moore, who owns Positive Approach Dog Training & Day Care, volunteers at the Humane Society evaluating dogs’ behaviors to see if they are adoptable. Her job includes sorting through owners’ reasons for giving up their dogs.

“I’m seeing more ‘Can’t afford to take care of them’ and ‘Lost my housing.’ I’m definitely seeing more of that as a cause,” Moore said.

Because of her work, Moore is on the first line of pet e-mail pleas.

“I get so many e-mails from people needing to find a home for their dog,” she said. “It’s all too common.”

She tries to connect people with pet food banks and free vet services, and she is encouraged by the energy and generosity of people willing to help.

It has paid off for dogs. The Humane Society has an army of foster caregivers. It has partnerships with rescue groups. It urges owners to spay and neuter pets.

It’s working. Last year the number of pets brought to the shelter dropped by 8 percent. So far this year, the numbers are down 15 percent.

The Humane Society found a home for every adoptable dog that came in. That does not mean all dogs live. In January, staff members had to euthanize 117 dogs and pups for behavior and medical reasons.

The numbers are also dropping for cats, but their prospects are still terrible.

“Last year we euthanized 1,500 kittens and 1,200 cats that were adoptable,” Olson said.

The heartbreak will pile up in April when kitten season begins.

People who failed to spay their cats will find homes for some kittens, then bring the rest to the shelter.

To make room for them, animals that arrived first will be put down.

“I want to say to these people, ‘You come up and tell us which two cats have to die today because you brought us two kittens,’” Olson said.

We can fix this problem. Literally. We can spay, neuter and adopt our way beyond it.

Our response to Coco and Cookie proves that we, as a community, have the heart for it.

Now all we need to do is focus on the problem in front of us, instead of on the one in our e-mail.

Kathleen Merryman: 253-597-8677

kathleen.merryman@thenewstribune.com