With abandoned pets on the rise, Conn. animal shelters, rescuers struggle to keep up

WEST HARTFORD — In Manchester, two dogs were tied to a basketball hoop and left abandoned. In Naugatuck, police say a woman threw two kittens out of her moving vehicle. In Canton, a dog was left abandoned in a crate in the woods. In Branford, two dogs were dumped on town streets.These are just a few of the heartbreaking stories of abandoned and injured animals that people like West Hartford resident Marla Rubenstein see daily."It's harrowing," said Rubenstein, who actively works to save and rescue cats. "I've never, ever in my life seen this. If you talk to any of the rescues who are overfull with no space, they're saying the same thing. They post daily on Facebook. It will say today's abandoned or abused animal."Rubenstein, scrolling over various Facebook pages, relays countless incidents of abandoned, lost and injured pets that she and others like her are desperately trying to help save. That includes West Hartford, where animal control found three dogs over the course of a weekend roaming in the heat."Dogs are getting tied to poles in the heat in parks in places where people will find them," she said. "In the meantime, their paws are getting scorched on the sidewalk, they're getting sunburned and they're showing up near death. They're in dumpsters, at doorsteps, in the woods. Finders are rescuing them, but the average person doesn't have thousands of dollars to save a stray."With some local animal control pounds full and many professional animal shelters and rescuers reporting that their facilities are maxed out, it's falling on people like Rubenstein — a volunteer citizen who first recalls feeding stray cats when she was just 5 years old — to take it upon themselves to help these animals.And that's exactly what she did when she heard from Collette Morton, the owner of Zoomin Groomin, a mobile dog grooming business in West Hartford. Morton said she recently found a cat living in her garage that badly needed help."He was in really rough shape," Morton said. "He was real close to death at that point. I knew this wasn't a feral cat. He was in rough shape. He was dirty and skinny and you couldn't even see his eyes."Rubenstein told Morton and another woman who helped her care for the cat to take the animal to her West Hartford veterinarian, Connecticut Veterinary Center, where a fund she established exists for situations like this."He's like a whole new cat now," Morton said. "It's night and day how he looks."The problem is, these incidents are occurring at such a rate that Rubenstein's fund is depleted, which was bad news when she caught word at the end of June of a cat named Koda in Waterbury that got out of its home and had been attacked by a wild animal. The owner couldn't afford to pay for life-saving surgery, so they turned the cat over to Rubenstein's care, and it received surgery to mend a pierced abdomen."I said, 'Can you save the cat?' If you can save the cat, then save the cat,'" Rubenstein recalled telling her vet. "He beat the odds. Left bleeding overnight? It's a miracle that this cat made it."The idea, Rubenstein said, is to have a padded fund at the veterinarian's office to help in situations like these. People can call the office at (860) 233-8564 and donate to Marla's Community Medical Fund themselves. Morton's Zoomin Groomin business is donating $5 from each of its July appointments to it. Rubenstein said any donations now would help pay Koda's medical bills.Shelters at capacityOn Wednesday, the volunteer rescue group CT Dog Gone Recovery Volunteer Network sent out a notice on social media saying that "many of our Connecticut pounds are full or close to full capacity" while urging anyone looking for a dog to adopt and not shop."Every town is so overwhelmed," said Patti Hawkins, a longtime member of the group. "And they're really wonderful dogs. It's not some abused or damaged dog. You can find any age and size. We want people to know there is an alternative to a basic rescue. Call your local shelters and find out what dogs are there."Burlington and Canton Animal Control this past week aided a dog that was found in a crate in the woods. The dog, a terrier mix, escaped its crate and was hit by a car. On Tuesday, the agency announced that their shelter was full and would be unable to take in any more animals for the time being. In West Hartford, animal control said on Facebook earlier this week that after finding a few roaming dogs that its pound was filling up. The town in February announced plans to build a new animal control facility five times the size of the current one. West Hartford's animal control officers did not respond to a request for comment.Jody Macrina, the president of Protectors of Animals in East Hartford, said instances of pets being abandoned has increased, leading to organizations like hers to struggle with space issues."Oh my gosh," she said when asked if there's an uptick in these cases. "I'm on the Facebook networks and monitoring what's going on. It used to be once in a while where you saw a situation where a dog was tied to a tree. Almost every day you see something."Macrina said it's unusual to see municipal animal control pounds fill up, signaling to her a sense of urgency in the rescue community. Hawkins added that while city pounds might reach capacity more often, that it's "crazy" to see smaller towns like Canton and Burlington reach that point."The last couple of days... I've seen notices on Facebook saying that there's a particular pound that has said they're closed," Macrina said. "They can't take anymore. They're shut down."Protectors of Animals, which has a capacity for around 10 dogs and also shares space with municipal pounds, has in recent time decided to limit their scope to East Hartford and some other parts of the state, which they say presents more than enough cases for them to handle."We try to be out there and help the community when we can," Macrina said. "We've had such extraordinary cases lately that our budget just isn't allowing us to help anyone but the animals that we have currently in our care. We confine our work to our communities. We stay in the confines of Connecticut because that's where people support us and where we get our donations. That's where we should be doing our work. There's more than enough for us to do without going outside of the communities we serve."That's where, Macrina said, a citizen rescuer like Rubenstein comes in. Someone willing to take a cat and its kittens while rescuers look for that animal's forever home are essentially giving it a chance at survival."People are stepping up," Macrina said. "That fortunately is a big help for the rescues. Even if somebody calls in and they have a stray cat with kittens, even finding a foster to give that animal a safe place and let the kittens grow, they can get on a waitlist and we can work them in."That's important, she said, because the reality of the situation is rescues and shelters have to put their capacity and budgets up against helping people and animals, a decision she said is heartbreaking to have to make."It feels so awful to have to look at budgets and money and numbers and say no, I can't help you," Macrina said. "It's heartbreaking. You have to keep your organization healthy so you can help other animals. But then there's part of you sitting around at night and feeling awful because you've said no to somebody who needs your help. All rescue people are constantly balancing the realities of the situations with the emotions they need to deal with."And with other rescuers and shelters facing the same issues Protectors of Animals is, Macrina also knows she can't just easily refer someone in need elsewhere."It's frustrating to say no to people," she said. "It's hurtful to say no to people or to give them a list of other shelters when you know those shelters are struggling too, that they are full, that they have emergencies and cries for help. It's a very unsettled time right now. Our state is saturated with cats and dogs. They have nowhere to go."Why people abandon petsThe reason why a person would abandon a pet usually isn't known unless police are able to track down the owner. But rescuers who work in rehabilitating these animals have a few ideas."Every town is finding these abandoned, dumped dogs, whether it's people can't afford them anymore, or they were used for breeding and they don't need them," Hawkins said. "It's alarming. It's getting to be a crisis situation."Financial reasons come up often, with Rubenstein wagering that money plays a big part in why some people might ditch their pet. And that's not a defense of them, rescuers said, but simply an understanding. Often, Rubenstein said, the pets are left in places where people will find them."That's the reality," Rubenstein said. "People don't have the money anymore. They don't know what to do, so they let them out."Macrina, too, tries to explain why so many people might leave a pet behind. She condemns the action, but said she doesn't want to judge people without knowing their situation."Bad things happen to good people," Macrina said. "They lose a job. They have to make their mortgage payment. They have medical needs. They have children. The animals are the thing on the list that they would look to rehome. If they're calling all these rescues and nobody can help them, what is their alternative?"Fortunately, on the other end, are the people willing to help find those dogs and cats new homes, whether that's through adoption or the temporary fostering of a pet, which eases stress on the rescuers and pounds. Protectors of Animals, to try and slow population growth, established an affordable spay and neuter clinic in 2017. It's booked solid all the time, Macrina said, adding that they serve around 25 cats and dogs each week, which really is just a drop in the bucket."It's just not enough," Macrina said. "For the rescue people it's like taking a drink out of a fire hose. It's an overwhelming feeling when you hear all of this and you can't respond, you can't help and you can't recommend anybody else."