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ly on the decline.
The economic pinch is also being felt by businesses and the pet retail industry on both sides of the border. Branches of the SPCA in charge of finding pet’s new homes and fundraising are facing problems. On March 20, 2009 the Oxford Country OSPCA office in Woodstock closed its doors. Operations could not be sustained from their climbing deficit and internal feasibility review (Ontario SPCA, 2009). In Toronto, an OSPCA thrift store hasclosed down because their fixed and variable costs were not able to be covered monthly, and this was their last resort (Cross, 2009). The demand for adopting petshas decreased, as the supply of strays has increased.This leaves agencies with a surplus in animals needing homes, and a deficit in support from the public.On the retail side of the pet business, on March 20, 2009 Canadian owned Petcetera filed for protection from its creditors. The company has been forced to have an inventory liquidation sale to try to recover the revenueto pull themselves out of this situation (Reuters, 2009). The Chief Executive Dani Urbani was quoted in a media release, “In light of the recession's impact on the Canadian retail industry, we have to take drastic measures in the short term toensure Petcetera continues to be viable long after the downtown is over” (Reuters, 2009). Facing a similar revenue-loss situation to Petcetera is Idexx labs. Chief Executive Ayers was quoted saying the company saw lower rates of revenue growth in the last quarter of 2008, especially in the companion animal segment (Ramanathan, 2009). With a noticeable reduction in pet parents opting to preventatively screen their animals for diseases and conditions, animal health care companies like Idexx are facing challenges keeping their business aligned with profit and revenue goals. The trend continues for business and retail to be facing major economic problems, such as lost revenue from pet parents opting out of their services in light of the hard times ahead.
On the American side of the border, the Westminster Dog show felt the effect of the recession. Sources said that their usual allotment of 2500 dogs in a day was not met, and classes not filled, compared to a full show last year. The Garden was sold out the year before on the Best In Show Night, but this year they only saw 2/3 of the stadium full. Competitors and spectators cited travel and show fees as the main reason why attendance was not an option for the show thisyear (Walker, 2009). As with the human side of travel and leisure, people haveto cut back on these sports and activities for their pets. The business breederis also facing the hard choices of whether they should risk entering, if their return will not be equal to investment. The effects of low attendance in Westminster would spread out to the businesses and travel sector of New York, with surrounding businesses that would normally be filled with visitors not seeing the increase in revenue as in past years(Walker, 2009). Pet retailers are facing many similar challenges as other human product and consumer businesses in these hard economic times.
Animals are facing a daily fight for survival, as we fight to keep our jobs and homes. In the United States, every year oversix millioncats and dogs are being sentto shelters, with half euthanized due to overcrowding (Bal, 2009).