Pandemic increases need for foster families for animal rescues in Western Pa. - TribLIVE

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A few weeks before the pandemic hit hard in March, Allie Christoforetti and her husband lost their dog.

The Greensburg couple decided they weren’t ready to adopt a new dog but were ready to foster through Helping Heart and Healing Tails Animal Rescue, based in the Ligonier area.

Christoforetti was moved by the rescue’s effort to help last-chance animals. She has volunteered for the animal rescue ever since.

Since the rescue doesn’t operate out of a facility, the animals are either cared for out of volunteers’ homes or are boarded. They have about 50 animals, and Director Amber Noel keeps most of the dogs in her house.

“Amber is at the max right now,” Christoforetti said. “Unless we get other fosters, we’re going to start to have to turn people away.”

The rescue is run solely on donations, and the coronavirus has significantly affected the fundraising process.

All of their planned fundraisers have been canceled except for one tentatively scheduled in August.

Helping Heart and Healing Tails Animal Rescue takes in any breed, any age, any animal. They have a horse and will soon be caring for two rats.

“If one person steps up to foster,” Christoforetti said, then another animal can come into the rescue.

She explained that there has been a surge of abandoned and surrendered animals in the area due to lack of means and uncertainty of jobs.

Other local animal rescues are seeing a decrease in funding.

Orphans of the Storm in Kittanning dealt with flooding at its facility at the beginning of the pandemic.

“We’ve been affected by donations and that it’s taking longer to do adoptions,” said Bethann Galbraith, manager of Orphans of the Storm. “We’re absolutely overwhelmed by the amount of animals, but that’s no different than any other time.”

The shelter has had more families wanting to foster, and adoptions have been steady, she said.

“We made sure it wasn’t a spur of the moment adoption and people were really sure this is what they wanted to do,” Galbraith said. “We’ve been so fortunate that everyone has been very patient.”

Galbraith said she noticed a greater need in Armstrong County for pet food and medical treatment by families who own pets.

Hospaws in Youngwood, a shelter that finds fosters for animals whose owners are ill or hospitalized, experienced a detrimental financial effect from the pandemic as well.

“We haven’t had one fundraiser this year,” said Valerie Hoegel, president. “I hope people step up and help the animals by fostering and donating, financially or with supplies.”

Hoegel said Hospaws has seen more people be admitted to hospitals for mental reasons amid the pandemic, causing them to find fosters for their pets.

“So many people were calling to say they could foster,” Hoegel said, but she was apprehensive as to what would happen when normal work resumed and the animals wouldn’t be able to be the main focus.

Danny Rosenmund, shelter manager at Animal Protectors of Allegheny Valley in New Kensington, has seen a rise in fosters and adoptions as well.

The only difference Rosenmund saw this year due to the pandemic was in funding and kittens.

“Kittens are seasonal in this part of the country because they only breed in warm weather,” Rosenmund said. “Kitten season got off to a slow start this year.”

Overall, the number of admissions to the shelter has been on par with previous years.

“We’re trying to help those who want to keep their pets by having the resources to do so as much as possible,” Rosenmund said. “We have seen a decrease in our funding. It’s definitely made us more conscious of stretching our resources as much as possible.”

Christoforetti emphasized how far small donations can go to help.

“Anyone can help out, even if you can’t take any (animals) in,” she said. “Even just donations can go a very long way.”

Megan Swift is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Megan at 724-850-2810, mswift@triblive.com or via Twitter .

Categories: Local | Allegheny | Westmoreland