A report from the Yucaipa Animal Placement Society in San Bernardino County highlights mounting pressures on local animal shelters as economic stress and cost-of-living increases ripple through the community.
The shelter has seen a 25 % increase in surrender applications and a 50 % jump in requests for emergency pet-food assistance. Jennifer Hurlbut, the society’s executive director, joined a local news segment (“Your Morning”) to discuss the surge in need: more families are having to choose between keeping their pets and making ends meet, and as a result more animals are entering the shelter system. The cost of pet care, food inflation, housing instability and other economic stressors are all cited as contributors.
Hurlbut noted:
“We are seeing folks who absolutely love their pets and don’t want to give them up, but the pressures have just become too much.”
Alongside the increase in surrenders, there is a rise in families seeking assistance just to keep their pets: requests for emergency pet food have soared by half. The shelter is working to broaden its support, offering pet-food banks, temporary assistance programs, and working with partner nonprofits to link pet owners with resources. But the strain is real: more animals arriving, fewer resources stretched across.
The article highlights how, in the era of high rents and economic uncertainty in Southern California, the challenge of pet caretaking is increasingly becoming a community issue—not just for pet owners but for the broader animal-welfare system. The shelter appeals for donations, volunteers and community awareness around preventative measures (like spay/neuter programs and pet food support) to help reduce the flow of surrenders.
The piece shines a light on a quieter front of community stress, one that doesn’t always make headlines—yet impacts many families.
