Spare a thought for animal rescue groups

IRISH life has changed dramatically. The clearest representation of this, to me, has been the number of contacts that people have been reporting once they have been diagnosed as being positive for Coronavirus. At the start of this pandemic, the average number of contacts for an Irish person was twenty; within a week of the strict rules about staying at home, that number had come down to just three.

Irish people love socialising, and this forced confinement has seriously restricted how many people we are allowed to meet. It doesn’t feel natural or normal at all.

There has been an unexpected consequence of this: many people have decided that they would like to take this opportunity of being at home to take on their first dog. New human friends are hard to find just now, but why not get a new animal friend?

This has led to an unexpected demand for dogs similar to the traditional pre- Christmas boom in puppy sales.

I have seen the effect of this in my own vet clinic: people with puppies that they’ve bought through unreliable online sources that have led them, unwittingly, to puppy farmers.

We had two pups from the same litter: they were seriously ill, riddled with worms and lice, they were underweight, and they were anxious, frightened animals. They have been treated and will now be fine in the long term, but it would have been far better if their owner had taken on pups from a different, more reliable source.

At this stage of the crisis, it is unlikely that people will be buying puppies any more anyway, since we have all been confined to our own homes. But it is worth remembering that once society does open up again, you need to be very cautious if you are considering getting a new dog. Some puppy farmers have learned how to trick people into buying poor quality puppies for high sums of money. There are safe ways of getting a new animal, and by following simple guidelines, you can make sure that you and your family don’t get into trouble.

The best summary is on a website run by the Irish Pet Animal Advertising Group (www. ipaag.ie ) This is a coalition of animal welfare organisations and vets who have worked together to combine the best advice. You can also consider going to another new website: www.petbond.ie. Petbond is like a classified adverts site for pets, but it goes the extra mile, checking for high standards of the sources for its animals. Petbond directs people to animal rescues as well as to ethical commercial breeders, so it caters for all needs and wishes.

You really do not need to spend hundreds of euro on a pedigree puppy.If you sure you want a new pet; there are so many wonderful animals in rescue groups that need a new home. But now there is a new problem to deal with: many of these rescue groups are struggling in this crisis.

There are some particular issues that deserve to be highlighted.

First, while rescue groups are always grateful for help from the public, too many people have been wanting to provide temporary homes by fostering a pet from a rescue group. As a result, some animal rescue groups have been overloaded with offers of fosterers.

One animal rescue group had nearly a hundred offers in one day; each of these needed to be processed, with interviews carried out and arrangements made. And most of them were inexperienced wanabee dog owners who only wanted to foster for 2 weeks. This in turn led to complications, as the dogs would all have come back at

Many animal rescue groups have serious problems at the moment

the same time, needing another large batch of fosterers to take them to the next stage..

That said, experienced help is always valued by rescue groups.

Second, many animal charities have already fallen into financial distress due to the cancellation of fundraising events, the closure of charity shops and the impact of reduced donations from a worried public. So spare a thought for your local animal rescue, and if you can afford a few euros, please donate them to help your local animals in trouble.

In the UK, pet shop chains and other animal organisations like the Kennel Club have stepped up to help out financially. Perhaps similar groups will also step up to do the same here in Ireland.

The third concern is that when life returns to normal, there will be a bunch of new problems facing the rescues. In particular, the export of excess numbers of dogs to the UK is likely to be under pressure. This has always been an escape valve for Irish rescue groups: the larger UK population is a useful market for dogs that can’t find a home in Ireland. The combination of travel restrictions due to COVID-19 along with anticipated tougher border controls due to Brexit is likely to make it harder to carry on taking dogs to the UK in the same numbers. We will need to refocus on reducing puppy production (more spays and neuters) and working hard to find good homes for dogs in Ireland.

Animals are fortunate that they do not suffer from COVID-19, and we are fortunate to have pets in our lives at this time. They live in the moment, and provide a useful reminder to us to do the same. Let’s thank them by making sure that we care for them properly during, and after, this crisis.