The alarmist media coverage tends to inaccurately characterize why people must surrender pets and what we can do to prevent that, but there has been some contrasting media response to that message as well. Susanne Kogut, president of Petco Love, published a LinkedIn piece that makes a similar point: “Recent headlines reading ‘Pandemic puppies being returned to animal shelters as people go back to work,’ are concerning except for one simple fact-it isn't true.” Last year was such an anomaly, so many adoptions, a really low return rate, so things are just going back to normal,’ said Heather Owen of One Tail at a Time.” The report continues: “’Our returns went up a little bit, but that’s normal for us. Thankfully, a few media outlets are reporting some counter-balancing pieces to the sky is falling rhetoric, like Chicago’s WGN: “While some shelters in the country report a massive increase in returns of adopted animals, the Chicago region, on the whole, has not.” Returns saw a similar increase: up 52% vs. In April of this year, owner surrenders were up 84% vs.In April 2021, net intake was up 60% over 2020, but remained 14.5% below 2019 net intake.
shelters and rescues that are part of the 24PetWatch data set. However, the number of pets being surrendered or returned in 2021 remain below 2019 levels (a more "normal" baseline) at the 1,191 U.S. In 2020, intake across all shelters across the nation was down 23% as many shelters faced partial closures and reduced services.Due to the unique circumstances of 2020, comparing 2021 numbers to 2020 alone isn’t an accurate indicator of pet surrender/returns. While data from 24PetWatch does indicate that, for the first time since the pandemic started, shelter intake began increasing in March and continued into April, that is hardly the whole story. Sensational coverage such as the New York Post piece “Pets adopted during the pandemic are being returned in record numbers” or ’s claim that there are “drastic increases in animals being abandoned,” don’t paint an accurate picture of what is really happening at shelters around the country. This viral media narrative is misleading for several reasons, missing the mark on the real challenges surrounding shelter animals and pets. You might have noticed recent media coverage that makes it seem as if pets who were adopted during the pandemic are being returned in droves.
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