Pets going hungry as food crisis worsens in Venezuela
CARACAS, Venezuela — Carlos Parra used to love waking up to see his pet albino boxer, Nina. Now, seeing her skeletal body on the floor next to his bed has become a daily reminder of the economic crisis engulfing Venezuela.
His other dog’s thick fur barely hides her ribcage as Parra struggles to feed his pets after losing his job at a shoe store.
“It’s terrible to sit and eat, see them watching me with hunger, and not be able to do anything,” said the 30-year-old.
As Venezuela’s economic crunch worsens, food shortages and rising poverty are forcing once middle-class Venezuelans to do the unthinkable: let their pets starve or abandon them in the streets.
No figures are available, but activists and veterinarians say they are seeing a growing number of dogs and cats abandoned at parks, clinics and shelters.
In Caracas, it has become common to see purebred dogs rummaging in the trash or lying outdoors, filthy and gaunt, in posh neighborhoods.
The animal protection and control center in the capital saw as many as 10 animals abandoned each day this summer, head veterinarian Russer Rios said. Up to about a year ago there were almost none.
“Now people just leave them here because they can’t take care of them,” Rios said.
Shelters are running classes teaching pet owners to look for food substitutes in the hopes of helping them maintain their pets through the crisis. At one private shelter in Caracas, a popular alternative for dogs that would never have been considered in better times is chickenfeed.
“We have to give it to them because there’s nothing else,” Katty Quintas, a part owner of the Funasissi shelter. The shelter is now home to more than 200 cats and dogs.
This spring, 72 horses died from starvation or malnutrition at the Santa Rita racetrack in the western city of Maracaibo.
Caracas homemaker Maria Galindo is offering Princess, her 5-year-old golden retriever, for adoption. So far, the dog has survived on scraps the neighbors give her.
“We’re very sad to have to give her up, but the crisis is not giving us another option,” Galindo said, looking at Princess’ bones sticking out from her yellow fur. “You’re thinking, ‘If I give the dog something to eat, what will I feed the children?’”