(Radio Iowa) – Animal shelters across Iowa are seeing a higher number of people who say they can’t afford to keep their pets. The Siouxland Humane Society’s Jerry Dominick says he’s been in contact with around 20 other shelters which all report more people dumping pets because they can no longer take care of them. “People are struggling to pay bills, and they look at pets as being expendable. All the shelters, you know, we’re here to help,” he says.

Dominick says his shelter saw an increase in requests for assistance from pet owners last year. The facility offers a food bank, spay and neutering programs, and funding for emergency vet bills. “We would rather help keep people and their pets together than see those pets displaced and sit here in a shelter,” Dominick says.

The Animal Rescue League in Des Moines says they took in more than 13-thousand animals last year, almost three-thousand more animals than in 2020. Another non-profit in Sioux City, Noah’s Hope, says some owners surrender their dogs because they took on second jobs and don’t have enough time for them. The Humane Society of Scott County in Davenport saw a 35 percent increase in cats and dogs being surrendered last year.