DAVENPORT, Iowa — There's plenty of dogs across the country and the Quad Cities with the same story -- adopted in 2020 while many of us work from home and stay home during the pandemic.
King's Harvest Pet Rescue says they saw adoptions increase ten percent in 2020 compared to the last year. The animal shelter did close to the public for a few months at the start of the pandemic, and since then, they've seen more adoptions as people spend more time at home and have more time to dedicate to a new pet.
Right now, there's about 65 cats at the shelter, which is about half of what they normally have. They have a few dogs currently in their care too.
Even with more adoptions, there's another side effect of the pandemic being seen at the shelter, as some animals have been recently turned over. In the last few weeks, three dogs and about a dozen cats have returned to the rescue.
"When the pandemic started, we really promoted 'Hey, since everyone is at home, why don't you either temporarily foster a pet or if you want to adopt one and take one home,'" Liz Corn, King's Harvest Pet Rescue Director, says. 'We did well with that. Unfortunately, we're kind of seeing the side effects of that where people had adopted pets, they hit that financial crisis if they're out of work and get take care of the pets anymore."
After a few months of being closed at the start of the pandemic, then capacity limits in the months following that closure, the shelter is nearly fully reopen with a face mask requirement. The shelter is accepting applications for foster and forever homes.