Let’s Talk New Mexico, 12/11 8a: Do you think it’s a problem when unhoused folks have pets? Perhaps they cannot afford the best food or vet care that those companion animals need, or the pets might be in unsafe environments? Some may have lost their homes while they had pets and cannot bear to part with them. It’s actually a complicated situation.
Some veterinarians say unhoused people tend to have very happy pets, even when caring for a pet can add complications to an already stressful life situation. The ASPCA says about half of unhoused people have been turned away from shelters that will not take them in because of their animals. The challenge of finding a safe place to keep a pet extends into the daytime in places like Santa Fe, where a proposed ordinance would criminalize having a pet on a street median – a place where many unhoused folks make a meager living.
On the next Let’s Talk New Mexico we’ll discuss pets who live outside with their people and we’d like to hear from you. Do pets need a home to be safe and healthy? Should unhoused people face different scrutiny than others when it comes to their animals’ welfare? Should local governments intervene with unhoused pets? Email letstalk@kunm.org, leave a voice message by clicking the link above, or call in live at (505) 277-5866 Thursday morning at 8.
Guests:
- William Bowen, Albuquerque Continuum of Care Program Manager, New Mexico Coalition to End Homelessness
- Karen Cain, Founder and Executive Director, New Mexico Street Homeless Animal Project (SHAP)
- Lila Casey, formerly unhoused with her Chihuahua Olivia, Board Secretary Chaplain Joe's Street Outreach
- Alma Castro, Santa Fe City Council
- Dr. Sohaila Jafarian, Relief Veterinarian and Board member of the Multicultural Veterinary Medical Association and Animal Humane New Mexico
Related reading:
"Can homeless people care for their pets? A Santa Fe controversy points to solutions." The Christian Science Monitor
"Continued crackdown on homeless? Santa Fe ordinance would prohibit pets in medians," Santa Fe New Mexican
"City Councilors to take final vote on proposal to ban animals from city medians," Santa Fe New Mexican
***UPDATE*** "Santa Fe City Council approves measure banning animals on city medians," Santa Fe New Mexican
Emails from listeners:
LISTENER BECKY: This subject is dear to me because I have been homeless and known first hand what lots of relationships between the unhoused and pets looks like.
Although the question you ask is not specific to dogs, they tend to be the pet that is most common. Alternatively I have seen cats and rats as pets. I can provide more info about my experience with them if you want but I will mainly focus my opinions on dogs.
The most important point I want to make is:
People assume dogs who live at a home are guaranteed a better life than those unhoused. Unhoused people and their pets have some of the happiest relationships. People, who assume a dog living with a Homeless person is miserable, are likely providing very comfortable lives for their own pets as a member of the family. I know plenty of housed dogs who have never had a visit to a vet and live out their whole life in a yard alone with no interaction or indoor access. Some people own dogs with the intention of letting the dog live out its life alone in a yard without criticism from others because they do so in the privacy of their property. Homeless are forced in view of public where anyone can pass judgement on them without knowing all the facts.
I have heard of dogs being stolen from homeless when hitchhiking, the car drives off with the dog. It’s emotionally devistating. Not just for the person but those dogs LOVE their owners.
In addition, my experience was over ten years ago but most of the time the dog ate better than the owner. The exception would be if someone got a cute puppy to try to earn more money but there is some self policing that goes on among homeless and a dog that was not well cared for did not stay with bad owners for long. Nor did those owners mind relinquishing the dogs.
Having dogs while homeless has pros and cons: dogs provide protection (especially for women sleeping outside) and companionship, relationships that helps curb the trauma of being unhoused.
The down sides are: not being able to use public transit, facing additional public scrutiny, no library access to use the internet to apply for jobs, & any other resource that takes place indoors like healthcare, food pantries, cold weather shelters, drop-ins.
The fact that the questions being asked are “should local government intervene” or “should unhoused face different scrutiny” instead of, “how do we adapt our resources and support these people with pets” is unfortunate.
There was a youth drop-in in Portland Or. that had kennels and dog food so people with dogs could come inside and receive help too. It was gratefully appreciated by the people utilizing their resources.
I had a friend who’s dog gave birth to puppies and he had to move them around in a shopping cart until he could find them all homes.
Like the article you shared, statistics show homeless pets are very happy. They are not captive with their owners, they walk off leash and stay together willingly when they sleep at night. They want to be with their people.
Becky
LISTENER BLAKE: Hello, my name is Blake and I have been homeless with a dog twice in my life, the first time I was hitchhiking up and down the West Coast, and the last time was here in Santa Fe partially due to it taking so long to find a room to rent that allows pets and does not require a credit score.
People, I had no personal fault, anthropomorphize animals and infer their own preferences upon them and believe that what they want and need to be comfortable safe and happy is shared by what is most often scarcely seperate from a wild animal.
I have spent an abundance of time in the company of homeless pets of many different shapes. First and foremost, the unhappy truth is that malcontented pets for the most part do not last on the streets because they must be in sync with their person at all times and work as a team. I witnessed them being rehomed on several occasions.
Spending 24 hours a day with an animal produces a bond that can scarcely be touched by somebody who spends 2/3 of their time away from home.
Dogs in particular, psychologically, greatly benefit from having a job, having purpose in their lives which is provided on the streets, Literally watching the backs of their person and so much more.
Even amidst what most people would consider unacceptable or severely uncomfortable situations, nearly every pet I on the streets was leagues happier than their houses counterpart. The overwhelming majority of domestic animals want to spend every minute of every day with their person regardless of the circumstance.
The more distant from their wild counterparts And subdued They are, the more domestic they become. This has manifested in what I can only describe as soulless pets, stripped of their sovereignty, often forcefully broken from their urge to scramble out the door every time it is open.
With the fundamental human tendency to anthropomorphize this argument, this debate is likely lopsided. Animals on the streets are free to choose to run into traffic if they so wish, tested every second of every day, and they thrive.
An animal that can scarcely provide for itself, and also on the brink of starvation, Every time will Choose to spend its last And every minute searching for food. Many will say that this is cruel, But is the alternative Any less so? Or is In it, in the worst cases, drawn out Torture and deprivation of true animal nature & mutual respect.
I am currently housed with a pet Comma And Do my best to embody the balance. I fear that average person does not have the ability, at no personal fault, to live alongside a fully free pet.
Thankyou!
Blake
LISTENER LESLIE: I hope you'll consider two things that argue in favor of looking out for the animals' interests before the humans' interests.
First, if this were small children that we were talking about instead of companion animals, I think it would be unquestioned that unhoused people living on the streets should not be able to have children live with them, or to adopt children. Companion animals are just as reliant on their humans as children are. I think the standard should be the same. Second, consider the "five freedoms" articulated by a number of animal welfare organizations:https://www.aspca.org/sites/default/files/upload/images/aspca_asv_five_freedoms_final1.ashx_.pdf
-Freedom from hunger and thirst
-Freedom from discomfort
-Freedom from pain, injury and disease
-Freedom to express normal behavior
-Freedom from fear and distress
I realize that many companion animals in our community don't enjoy these freedoms even when they are in homes, but the likelihood is very high, if not certain for some animals, that they will not have these freedoms while unhoused and unsheltered.
Should people fall into homelessness while they have companion animals, then of course we should try to accommodate both people and their animals. Both sets of lives are important
Thank you,
Leslie
LISTENER ASHLEY: I was a veterinary technician for about twenty years in other states, not New Mexico. I worked in animal shelters and private practice and have had this argument with people numerous times over the years. Projecting the needs and ideals of yourself, a human, onto animals does NOT help animals. In my experience, most unhoused people have very happy pets. Pets want to be with their humans as much as possible. Pets of unhoused people usually spend all day and night with their humans, their ideal situation. The unhoused people I have met when I was a vet tech fed their pets better than they fed themselves. In some communities there are veterinarians who provide free vaccines or discounted care for pets of unhoused people. I would love to see that increase. The idea that it is better for pets to take them away from their unhoused owners is absurd. Animals in shelters become depressed, anxious, stressed, and often ill. There are NOT enough homes for all of the pets in our country. In the shelters I worked at, I often euthanized around 80 animals every morning. The numbers of the local animal control facilities were the same. So, that's about 160 dogs and cats being euthanized every morning in those cities. And yes, those places had mandatory spay/neuter at that time. So, if pets are taken away from unhoused owners they are basically being taken away to euthanize them. That is cruel, inhumane, repugnant, and tragic.
Sincerely,
Ashley
