Second Covid-19 wave leaves pets orphaned
As families struggle to cope with the loss of loved ones, these pets suddenly find themselves abandoned
The second wave of the coronavirus pandemic has wreaked havoc. Many animals have been orphaned, losing their humans to the pandemic. As families struggle to cope with the loss of loved ones, these pets suddenly find themselves abandoned.
“There are lots of requests coming in for dog adoptions and foster care as the parents have passed away or are recovering from the infection,” says Anuradha Dogra from Animal Hospital and Shelter, NOIDA.
And a few good folks in the city are volunteering to look after such fur babies. One such resident and pet parent to two dogs, Parul Taneja from Faridabad, had put a post on social media willing to foster says, “Ever since I posted, my inbox has been flooded with messages for adoptions where the parents are no more.”
But for those who can’t foster and are coming across such incidents, Dogra suggests passing on information of abandoned pets to animal welfare association of the area, and with animal-care volunteers instead of directly posting on social media. She says, “There needs to be thorough check before giving for adoption to avoid going to a breeder, or getting re-abandoned because they are adult dogs—so they need to be aware of the behaviour and temperament.”
Another animal-care volunteer, Ruchi Gupta echoes similar sentiment and says, “Alert the RWA and then best is to connect with rescue organisations or volunteers from the area.”
However, before approaching organisations, Achal Gupta, founder, Jeffurry’s:The Pet Resort advises to personally reconfirm the details. “There have been a few posts for dog adoptions doing the rounds but instead of simply re-sharing, please ensure and cross-check that the dog is in reality left to nobody as these cases are rare only with couples or individuals,” says Gupta who has had 45-50 dogs in the last few weeks being fostered while the parents were recovering.
The grief of losing owners and then getting adopted into a new family can be a traumatic experience as Dr Vivek Arora, veterinary surgeon points out. He says, “The loss of the family members and the presence into a house, new level of hierarchy, confidence and faith into complete new parents – all adds to the pet’s pain.”
He furthers adds that the pet could be under stress also due to the overexposure with the owners in the last year as he states, “The last 10-12 months, we did not go out and what was meant to be 6-8 hour contact suddenly became 24 hour contact [between the pet and parent] and then losing them, so the pet takes a little longer to settle and new family needs to be patient.”