Pets are becoming victims of mortgage crisis

News reports of people abandoning their pets in their repossessed homes or dropping  them off at overburdened animal shelters have prompted outrage across the blogosphere.

"What is wrong with these people that they just leave them in the home after they have moved out? What is the reasoning behind their thinking?" wrote Texas real estate professional Stephanie Hansson at the Active Rain blog. "I am heartsick and just can't understand."

• Bing: Adopt a pet
  

Some bloggers are urging readers to take action as the foreclosure rate climbs. Deanna Raeke at For the Love of the Dog asked her readers to check the yards and look in the windows of vacant houses to see if pets were left behind. You also can adopt a "foreclosure cat" or dog from your local shelter.

Pets "are getting dumped all over," Traci Jennings, president of the Humane Society of Stanislaus County in northern California, told The Associated Press. "Farmers are finding dogs dumped on their grazing grounds, while house cats are showing up in wild cat colonies." Some shelters are planning to offer temporary housing for evicted pets until their owners can find a pet-friendly place to live. For links to other news stories, check out this post at The Home Equity Theft Reporter.

One man didn't leave animals behind but actually introduced some to his former home, according to a story in BusinessWeek. It said: "A man in Eagle Creek, Ore., recently put three 200-pound pigs in his repossessed home. They quickly tore up the place, ripping away the foundation and reducing the back porch to rubble. When police found the pigs, the animals were unharmed but a little cranky."

Published Feb. 1, 2008