Bay Area economy, housing woes, vet shortage lead to soaring pet surrenders

SAN JOSE, Calif. – The scene is always heartbreaking – a sobbing pet owner, cradling a beloved animal companion, comes into an animal shelter to surrender a pet. But it’s happening every day now at some shelters, where the number of surrendered dogs and cats has doubled. The numbers are even higher for rabbits. This isn’t the long-anticipated, never materialized COVID bounce that predicted the record number of pandemic-era adoptions would fall apart once people returned to the office or resumed regular life. Most surrenders, says Oakland Animal Shelter director Ann Dunn, stem more from the rap...