When Krista Buonanduci, a stay-at-home mom in Swampscott, realized how much more time she would be spending at home because of the COVID-19 pandemic, she knew just what would be the perfect thing to fill it.
“With all the time I had with the pandemic … I had the proper time to raise a puppy,” said Buonanduci, a mother of two. “I really connected with [nature] during the summer, having a garden and being outside more. We have a great yard and it wasn’t getting used much.”
Across the country, pet adoption centers have been inundated with requests for new furry friends, as animal lovers like Buonanduci seek a new source of comfort during a stressful time.
“Our cats are turning over as soon as they get to the adoption center,” said Sandy Perry, feline and volunteer coordinator at PALS Animal Life Savers in Salem. “Most don’t make it past the first weekend adoption window.”
Perry said that when the shelter shut down in March, all of their cats had to be sent to foster care, but they had no trouble finding volunteers to take care of them.
“We had a tremendous interest in fostering. People wanted to help a cat in need,” she said. “When they knew they were going to be home, they felt they were able to make a short-term commitment.”
Like other shelters, PALS had to enact strict regulations when they reopened to prevent the spread of the virus. They have done away with paper applications and can only allow one potential pet parent into the adoption center at a time, making appointments last much longer as each family member takes a turn.
Northeast Animal Shelter (NEAS), also in Salem, used to primarily use open hours to help adopters find the right pet, with people coming in to see what cat or dog would be best for them. Now, they operate by appointment only, with interested adopters sometimes coming in several times to find the right match.
“The biggest change is we now have to handle a lot more inquiries by phone and email,” said Mike Keiley, interim executive director of the shelter. “We’ve shifted from managing crowded shelters to, how do we make the best matches possible while doing that electronically or over the phone?”
At Marblehead Animal Shelter, volunteer Ron Olson said that because they are a smaller and lesser-known organization, the added requirements to even enter the shelter have actually led to a decrease in adoption applications.
“We’ve actually cut back a bit on people wanting to go through the rigamarole of coming to see the cats,” Olson said.
Buonanduci used Sweet Paws Rescue, an organization based in Essex, which specializes in rescuing dogs and cats from the southern United States and rehoming them in New England. Buonanduci said that she first had a Zoom meeting with the organization, and then six weeks later she was matched with an adoption coordinator, who she primarily spoke with over Facebook Messenger, receiving pictures of potential puppies.
“It is a long time to wait, but it makes you sure that you want to do this,” she said.
At NEAS, many incoming animals also come from the South, but Keiley says that there actually haven’t been as many animals as normal years, making it even more difficult to meet the demand. He attributes this decrease, which he estimated at 30 percent of their normal population, to staffing shortages at rescues and nationwide eviction moratoriums.
“Somewhere between 20 and 25 percent of animals that enter MSPCA shelters are the result of housing issues,” Keiley said. “In the beginning of the pandemic, we thought people are probably afraid to come to an agency and surrender, but as it played out it hasn’t changed at all. It really can only be concluded that the housing moratorium is the driver of that.”
When Buonanduci saw a picture of Larry, an 11-week-old lab and shepherd mix, she said it was love at first sight. She and her family drove to meet the rescue truck, where they had a five-minute scheduled window in which they were able to pick him up in a drive-through line.
Three weeks later, she says Larry (short for Lawrence Swift) has fit in perfectly with the family.
“It’s quite different during COVID, but it didn’t change the outcome,” Buonanduci said. “He’s a great dog.”