Credit Santa Rosa County Animal Shelter
Animal shelters experienced a spike in intakes after Gov. Ron DeSantis lifted the eviction ban moratorium in October.
Jennifer Bitner, executive director of Pensacola Humane Society, said there’s been an increase of shelters asking for assistance in pulling at risk animals in the last six weeks. And the nonprofit’s help team has noticed a trend in pet owners needing housing assistance.
“During the late summer/early fall, we experienced a lull,” said Bitner. “Not that the shelters were empty, but they weren’t reaching out for assistance. Then all of the sudden there was a spike. In conversations with our help team, we attributed it to the lift on the eviction ban.”