From remote adoptions to abandoned rats, humane society faced ‘unusual challenges’

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Ducks and chickens and rats, oh my!

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The past year has presented some “slightly unusual challenges” for the Windsor County / Essex Humane Society. There was the advent of remote adoptions, the unexpected arrival of some 40 rats, and a mysterious influx of rabbits, chickens, and ducks.

At the last count, CEO Melanie Coulter said the humane society had taken in 45 ducks this year.

“Last year, it was zero,” he said. “From time to time we get ducks and chickens. But this year has been crazy. In the past year, shelters in Ontario and beyond, including in the United States, have seen an incredible number of rabbits enter. Many shelters see ducks and chickens coming in. In many cases, shelters see twice as many as they came in the last year or two. No one is quite sure why. “

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One thing that there has been no question about is the increased interest in pet adoptions. But amid a pandemic, the humane society had to find a way to match people and pets while minimizing traffic at the shelter.

Coulter said they switched to remote adoptions, with people filling out applications online and speaking with adoption counselors over the phone. The result was less stress on the animals due to reduced foot traffic at the shelter, he said. Counselors have also been able to guarantee better matches between humans and pets.

“Instead of someone being drawn to the first adorable face they see or look at a cat and think it reminds them of the cat they had when they were young, we can really try to pair that family up with an animal that is going to be a very good for them, ”Coulter said.

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But the increase in pet adoptions also resulted in a shortage of veterinarians, he said. The Humane Society has tried to help alleviate the problem by expanding services to offer “wellness care” for pets.

The pandemic has presented other unexpected problems.

Your dog may have overlooked social interaction as much as you have. With the pandemic restrictions, there were no classes for puppies. People stayed home and received no visitors. In many cases, this meant that the dogs that people bought or adopted lost the opportunity to socialize in the formative stages of the puppy.

“When they miss out on that opportunity, there’s the potential for a lot of different behavior problems to come up in the future,” Coulter said. “That is something that we are seeing to some degree, and we are certainly concerned that we will see some of those behavioral issues manifesting itself in the next few years.”

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There has also been an inexplicable flood of seemingly less traditional pets entering the shelter.

“Fortunately for us, ducks and chickens are adopted fairly quickly,” he said. Rabbits are certainly a much bigger challenge because the numbers that are coming in are way above the number of adopters. That’s something you rescue and other shelters are looking at. There are so many coming in. “

The reason for the influx of rats is less mysterious.

“We have many, many, many rats that got in,” Coulter said. “Several pregnant rats were abandoned outside our building. So we have a lot of rats. “

The good news, he said, is that rats make excellent pets.

“They’re actually very easy to train,” Coulter said. “They are very interactive. They are very sociable. But there are a limited number of people looking to adopt rats, and many of them already have them. So it’s a bit of a challenge, especially when we have the huge numbers that we have right now. “

For more information on adopting a pet, visit windsorhumane.org or call 519-966-5751.

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