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Foreclosed Upon Pets: Hidden victims of the housing crisis

Page Last Updated: Monday February 8, 2010 5:17pm PST

Denise Rosch reporting

It’s the ranking we can’t seem to shake.

In 2009, Las Vegas topped the nation in home foreclosures. And the trend isn’t getting any better this year. But while many try to pick up the pieces and move on, some families are being permanently ripped apart.

It’s become the American horror story and is being told in neighborhoods across the valley. Lost jobs and lost homes mean saying goodbye to more than just possessions: Family pets are often being left behind during evictions.

“I finally bought my first property and here we go: The market has taken a dive. We can't even afford a rental at this point,” says Hope, a Las Vegas wife and mother. “It's getting rid of your children. It's not easy at all.”

Hope’s two-income family quickly fell to no jobs when the economy turned sour. They’re now headed to Chicago to live with relatives. However, dogs Nugget and Sharon can’t come.

”For us to have a home, I have to look out for my 11-month-old and myself and my husband as well.”

Hope says her greatest fear is that her dogs would end up at an animal shelter, where tens of thousands of unwanted pets are put down every year. In Hope's case, her dogs are wanted but she just can't keep them anymore.

Hope has now put her faith in Everett Coxson and his non-profit FUPI, which stands for Foreclosed Upon Pets Incorporated. The organization works to place abandoned dogs and cats in new homes.

Coxson explains that Hope’s story is a fairly common occurrence.

“They've lost their jobs, they're losing their homes to foreclosure, and they have no choice but to surrender their animals. It's terrible.”

Coxson says that in the past year his group has placed more than 250 pets by spreading the word via online newsletters and emails.

And, just like the foreclosure crisis itself, his operation grew; Coxson even bought his own bank-owned home – a modest, five bedroom used as a staging area before the pets are fostered out.

“This is not a forever home for them but we're getting them ready to get them on to their next new home where they can be loved.”

Still, not every animal can be adopted. Volunteer Kay Lawrence transfers especially hard-luck cases to workers with the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Utah. There, the animals can live out their lives in peace.

“It's our responsibility to take care of them. They're defenseless and I think God gives them to us to take care of. And we're judged on how that is done, how we take care of them,” says Kay.

It’s an honest dedication Hope is counting on, knowing that her time in Las Vegas is running out thanks to a fickle housing market no one could have predicted.

“Thankfully my mother is taking us in (and) we have that opportunity. I'm sure there are others out there that don't. Where are they going?”

If you’d like to know more about the non-profit organization FUPI, log on to www.forecloseduponpets.org.

Tuesday, News 3 will take you to one of FUPI’s adoption fairs to see if pets really are finding homes.

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