NYC Pet Adoptions Spike As The Coronavirus Breeds Loneliness

NEW YORK CITY — Even before Gov. Andrew Cuomo ordered New Yorkers to remain in their homes last month, Animal Care Centers of New York City began bracing for what would happen to the 600 animals it normally shelters. When the organization made a public plea for local residents to consider fostering or adopting pets, Katy Hansen expected the response to be typical.

But rather than the 50 or so applications that normally trickle in, Hansen, the care center’s communications director, said the facility received 5,000 applications.

Since then, the ACC has placed more than 450 dogs and cats in local homes at a time when the new coronavirus is increasing the human need for companionship.

As of Wednesday, the ACC has less than 130 animals at its facility in a city where less than 25 percent of residents own pets. That compares to a national figure that has more than 50 percent of Americans owning pets. Now, the ACC has more applications than animals – a trend that Hansen considers heartwarming, despite the fact that many of the animals that find their way to the care center are coming from owners who have died from coronavirus-related health issues.

“I think it reinforces the thought that people in New York want pets but they’re busy,” Hansen said Wednesday. “Now that they have the time, (pet adoption or fostering) has been great for them.

“Having someone to care for gives you that sense of purpose that might be lost if you were by yourself.”

Hansen said that having a pet helps owners to establish a sense of routine that might not otherwise happen as New Yorkers continue to adjust to how much they can leave their homes. Petting a dog or a cat is known to lower blood pressure, Hansen said, but the biggest need that pet ownership helps to meet is simply providing company for people at a time when loneliness has set in for so many.

“(Pets) have no idea of what is going on,” Hansen said. “So you have someone who’s not looking at you saying, 'what is happening now?’ It’s someone that is looking at you (saying), ‘wanna play?’ It’s like turning on a station that only has good news.”

The Center For Disease Control, the World Health Organization and the American Veterinary Medical Association have established protocols for care centers like the ACC to follow for animals who have been exposed to COVID-19 patients. The pets are placed in quarantine for 14 days as a precaution, Hansen said, before the animals are ready to be fostered, adopted or given to the one of the partner organizations the ACC works with to get pets into homes.

While there was the case of the tiger in a Bronx zoo that tested positive for the coronavirus, Hansen said there is no testing of animals. Instead, she said that pet specialists rely on CDC guidance while also being aware of overseas anecdotal cases of pets contracting the virus. On Wednesday, however, the Associated Press reported that two cats in New York State have tested positive for the coronavirus, but the report said that the diagnosis backs up what Hansen already knows to be true.

“It’s not like they think the animals can transmit the virus,” Hansen said. “There’s just so much unknown.”

The ACC is no longer accepting applications to foster pets but is always looking to place animals in permanent homes. Of the 130 animals currently at the care center, half are dogs, mostly larger breeds that weigh 75 pounds or more. Applications for adoptions can be found either on the care center’s webpage or on its mobile app, which also provide helpful information about pet care and ownership. Once a potential pet parent locates a pet they are interested in, the application process can begin immediately.