The economic downturn and housing crisis in Florida have resulted in more pets looking for a place to call home.

A recent study by Petfinder.com, a national foundation with an online database of about 247,000 adoptable pets, found 62 percent of animal welfare organizations in Florida have seen a noticeable drop in adoptions since consumers began re-evaluating their spending due to concerns about a possible recession.

Nationwide, Petfinder.com's survey showed 57 percent of shelters and rescue groups across the country have seen adoptions decline. Many shelters also have seen a significant increase in pets being surrendered to the facilities due to an increase in home foreclosures.

"We are finding when we ask shelters what kind of experience they are having, over half of them were saying there were slowdowns in the amount of animals being adopted out," said Betsy Saul, founder of Petfinder.com. "It is a major concern when that is coupled with also the same shelters telling us they are getting pets relinquished more because people can't keep them. We can almost bear one or the other, but to have both things happening at once puts the burden on the shelters. It is really tough."

Cindy Morton, president of the board for Honor Sanctuary Animal Rescue in Manatee County, said she has seen a significant decline in people adopting pets over the past several months.

"We are struggling to find dogs homes," she said. "It is very tough right now. We are coming up with as many creative ways as we can to try to get them homes. Basically, we take the animals to where we think the people are."......

Like economy, pet adoptions down...........

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