A 'State of Pet Homelessness Index' report by Mars Petcare India, published in November 2021, showed that in India, almost 50 per cent of current and previous owners admitted they had abandoned a pet in the past compared to 28 per cent on a global level.
And no one knows it better than Anusha Srinivasan Iyer, a public relations professional who runs the Pawsitive Farm Sanctuary in Andheri, Mumbai.
"So many ill-treated animals came to us during the pandemic, some abandoned, some injured, some maimed, some flung out of a running car, some left in a car trunk to die, expectant mothers, puppy-mill rejects, or thrown in garbage bags. Each with a story of inhumanity by humans," she said.
After the lockdown announcement, the first thing Iyer's NGO did was to stock up on dog and cat food. With people losing work or income, many could not afford pet food and vet care bills.
Iyer is now aiming to build a farm sanctuary. Along with her mother and sons, Iyer takes care of more than 115 rescue cats and dogs.
The pandemic has been particularly hard on domesticated animals. Several lost their homes when their cash-strapped owners couldn't take care of them anymore; many lost their caregiver to Covid, and some were abandoned after the lockdown when their owners no longer needed them as emotional crutches. Stray animals faced hunger owing to movement restrictions.
People For Animals is one of India's largest animal welfare organisations that has helped thousands of people look after animals by getting them feeder passes. Founded in 1992 by Maneka Sanjay Gandhi, a Member of Parliament in the Lok Sabha and an animal rights activist, People For Animals has over 100 regional units located around India.
Not just with food and money, Gandhi has also helped several abandoned animals get shelter homes.
"In my house, I have four abandoned animals--three from Delhi and one from Patna," she said. "The animals die on the road of starvation or are attacked by other street animals and are defenceless as they do not know how to protect themselves. Many in shelters die of heartbreak."
Apart from monetary crises and movement issues, a common reason for rising pet abandonment during the pandemic was the irrational fear that the animals would transmit the coronavirus through their fur.
"We immediately took to the national media to contradict the fake assertions that dogs or cats could spread Covid-19 to humans. We got the top doctors of the country to give the correct statements."
Abandonment of animals is not just punishable by law under 429 IPC and Section 11 of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1960. A person who abandons their pet can go to jail for three years.
(Gurpreet Kaur is a freelance journalist who writes on lifestyle, entertainment and animal rights.)