Oil Spill Hardships Pets Shelters Families

By: Kara Gilmour
Staff Writer
Published: Jun 14, 2010

Oil spill hardships pets shelters and families. The impact from the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is causing some hardships for pets and shelters from Louisiana to Florida. The trickle-down effect can now be felt inside animal shelters as families bring in their pets with no other choice because of the BP oil spill.

"They are worried about when their next paycheck is going to come," Charles Ballay, a local marina owner, said in a statement. "I'm sure animals might be something I guess they feel they might have to depart with, because they have to make choices, some tough choices." Unemployed fisherman are struggling to support both their families and their pets, leaving many with no choice but to try and give away their animals.

It is a sad situation where most of the shelters contain 40 or more pets caged inside one facility. While none have a drop of oil on them, they are still very much suffering because of it. Rescue shelters are packed, every cage filled, and the waiting list for people trying to drop off their pets is now 20 percent longer than normal.

The growing mess of the BP oil spill is only getting worse along the Gulf coastlines. Out-of-work fisherman are just finding it harder to care for their families and pets while worrying about their livelihoods. Most of the unemployed fisherman believe the situation is only going to get worse in the immediate future, and animal shelters are trying to keep up with the high volume of pets being dropped off.