Dog House Foreclosures: Stockton takes the Fifth

The foreclosure fallout continues ... Pet abandonment has increased with the rise in foreclosures, according to a promotional message for Petfinder.com, a site that provides pet adoption resources.

"Because pets are considered personal property and in some cases, the pets have not been removed after the foreclosure sale, there is a major concern for those pets that are left behind. If no one cares for them or alerts animal control authorities, they will die during this time," according to a media alert from a marketing company for Petfinder.com.

The Associated Press and Los Angeles Times have reported about the animal casualties of the foreclosure crisis, and the Redflin blog carried a related post.

Inman News contacted the City of Stockton/San Joaquin County Animal Shelter to find out if the shelter has seen an increase in pets and if there may be a link to foreclosures -- Stockton has been ranked by foreclosure data site RealtyTrac as one of the nation's hot spots in foreclosure activity (see Inman News special report).

A police staffer at the shelter directed the call to Connie Cochran, Stockton's public information officer, who said that the city is no longer researching "foreclosure-related issues for the media ... because we've spent so much time. We feel our time is better spent addressing issues within our community."

So maybe there is a need for more pet adoptions in the Stockton area ... and maybe there isn't. Maybe foreclosures have created a real problem there for the animal shelter, and maybe they haven't. The city wouldn't tell us. Foreclosure, Cochran continued, "really is a national crisis. We don't own it." The city apparently isn't owning up to it, either.

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