Animal Shelters’ Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Pilot Survey of 14 Shelters in the Northeastern United States
Open accessAbstract
Anecdotal reports indicate that many animal shelters experienced increased adoption and foster care rates during the COVID-19 pandemic, yet peer-reviewed evidence is lacking. In this pilot survey of 14 animal shelters in the Northeastern United States, we aimed to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on animal intakes, foster care and five outcome types and describe operational changes reported by shelters in response to COVID-19. Paired sample t-tests and Wilcoxon signed-rank tests were used to compare intake, adoption, euthanasia and foster care rates and numbers between March–June 2019 and 2020. The number of dogs and cats that entered shelters was significantly lower during the COVID-19 pandemic compared with the same months of 2019 (t = 3.41, p = 0.01, t = 2.69, p = 0.02). Although the overall rate of adoption and euthanasia did not differ, the numbers adopted and euthanized decreased significantly for both dogs and cats, reflecting the significantly decreased intake. We also found significant variability between shelters. During the pandemic, several shelters sought to expand their foster care networks through operational changes (n = 6) and statements made to the public (n = 7). However, the proportion of dogs and cats housed in foster care did not differ between March–June 2019 and 2020 in our sample. Our findings offer preliminary insights regarding the impact of a worldwide pandemic on the functioning of animal shelters.
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In general, newly acquired pets are more likely to be relinquished.
“In general, newly acquired pets are more likely to be relinquished.”
From Companion animal adoption and relinquishment during the COVID-19 pandemic: Peri-pandemic pets at greatest risk of relinquishment (2022) · cites this paper as [10]
The Results (section 3.1) compare shelter intake and owner relinquishments in 2019 and 2020, and the Discussion (section 4) reports fewer owner relinquishments during the pandemic. Neither passage compares newly acquired pets with longer-owned pets. Searches for recent acquisition, adoption returns, and ownership duration found no such comparison in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.72)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredPowell et al. found that of all adopted animals from one USA shelter, 9.2% were returned within 6-months of adoption.
“More recently, Powell et al. (10) found that of all adopted animals from one USA shelter, 9.2% were returned within 6-months of adoption.”
From Companion animal adoption and relinquishment during the COVID-19 pandemic: Peri-pandemic pets at greatest risk of relinquishment (2022) · cites this paper as [10]
The Results (section 3.1) report adoption rates across the surveyed shelters, not returns after adoption. Searches for the claimed 9.2% return rate and six-month follow-up found no passage in our copy addressing either figure. (LLM, conf=0.74)
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- Authors
- Powell, L., Houlihan, C., Stone, M., Gitlin, I., Ji, X., Reinhard, C. L., & Watson, B.
- Affiliations
- University of Pennsylvania (US)
- Corresponding author
- Powell, Lauren
- Venue
- Animals
- Publisher
- MDPI AG
- Published
- 2021-09-10
- Volume
- 11
- Issue
- 9
- Pages
- 2669
- ISSN
- 2076-2615 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC8468430
- OpenAlex
- W3199865225
- Cited by
- 22
- References
- 34
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 6
- FWCI
- 24.45
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Animals (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Funders
- Bernice Barbour Foundation
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Law › Animal Law and Welfare
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Human-Animal Interaction Studies
- Health Sciences › Veterinary › Small Animals › Animal Behavior and Welfare Studies
- Keywords
- animal shelters, COVID-19 pandemic, pet adoption, foster care, euthanasia, dogs, cats, pet overpopulation, northeastern United States
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