The coronavirus pandemic has caused a pet-raising craze in Japan.
According to a report by Japan’s newsletter on the 20th, in order to pass the miserable life under the pandemic, the number of Japanese people owning pets is increasing, which has also led to a sharp rise in pet prices.
At the same time, abandoning pets has also become a big problem.
According to the analysis of a local pet food company, “Many people work remotely, which leads to an increase in time at home, and many people hope to release the pressure of staying at home for a long time by owning pets.” With the increase in demand for pets, pet prices have also grown rapidly.
In a pet store in Tokyo, the price of poodles rose to 400,000 yen per unit (about 4000$ per unit), nearly 1.5 times higher than before the pandemic.
However, many people bought pets home and found that it was not so easy to keep them, so they decided to abandon them.
Many kittens and puppies that have not been raised for a long time or have been born less than a year ago can only be sent to pet rescue stations.
Reasons for some people to abandon pets are also very selfish, such as “it’s better to be good at home than to be in a pet store” and “I care about the smell of pets”. Others choose to abandon pets because of the impact of the pandemic on their income.
Animal protection groups are worried that the abandonment problem will become more serious, and call on people to raise pets rationally and “responsibly for life”.)
