Foreclosure pets on the rise in Arizona

Sister Gannett paper the Arizona Republic has a front page story on how pets are affected by the foreclosure and subprime mortgage crisis.

Reporter Samantha Hauser writes:

Foreclosures in metropolitan Phoenix continued to rise in May, with 3,402 foreclosures filed, up more than 14 percent from April, according to the Information Market.

Shelters across the nation also are seeing an increase, according to the Humane Society of the United States, which has no affiliation with the Arizona Humane Society.

The problem is most acute where foreclosures are common and the general economy is struggling. States such as Arizona, California and Florida are being inundated with foreclosed homes, and subsequently, their animal shelters are being flooded with pets.

I've written about this several times in the past.

There are grants to help shelters that find themselves overwhelmed. But it's really going to take a turnaround in the economy to get things back to normal.