Wisconsin Federated Humane Societies received the following letter from a concerned social worker in a major Wisconsin city. We assume this is not an isolated incident. We want to make you aware.

     Hi there, I'm reaching out to WFHS. I'm a social worker and animal welfare advocate.

     We are starting to hear about animals being found in residences sometimes days after their owners are detained elsewhere by ICE. The most recent example of this I'm aware of is 3 Husky mixes who were alone in a residence for several days before someone found them.

     The people finding and taking these animals in are also typically undocumented and are too afraid to contact shelters and rescues directly. They are trying to go through trusted third parties to surrender the animals and this has led to (understandably) clashing with established organizational policies or ownership laws.

     These animals have often crossed county and municipality lines several times and been passed through families as the community scrambles to care for them. The owner is not available to sign surrender paperwork, and those caring for them are too scared to present to these organizations and sign paperwork (assuming the animals have been in their possession long enough to do so).

     The trusted third parties the community who are reaching out to for help are running into shelters and rescues (understandably) asking to speak to the owner directly, having concerns about surrender vs. stray status, and are not fully conceptualizing the nuances of the situation.

     I am very concerned that we are going to see an increase in abandonment, neglect and animals released at large.

     An idea we have had is to place surrender paperwork in the emergency documents that ally organizations are trying to help the undocumented community prepare ahead of time to be used in the event they are detained.

     An identified need is for shelters and rescues to gain an understanding of this current challenge and conceptualize ways to respond.

     Thank you!

     As requested, Wisconsin Federated Humane Societies is working to provide additional resources / information to the caregivers, the public, and lawmakers on this issue.To our rescue/shelter partners: please note that Immigrant detainees, their families, friends, or neighbors may need some additional assistance from shelters at this time. Please consider these factors when dealing with animal surrenders.

     Centro, a great Madison based organization, has a website with a lot of helpful information to help make plans for families in the case of deportation: https://www.micentro.org/community-resources.

     Also, below are links to some sample forms in Spanish and English that could be used to help at-risk families make provisions for their pets:

    Agent Authorization for Surrender w/ Spanish   

    Transfer of Ownership Agreement w/Spanish   

     NOTE from Wisconsin Puppy Mill Project: since receiving the original letter, we have become aware of at least two other incidents concerning deportees having to rehome pets. In one case, the deportee was tearfully surrendering a dog to the shelter because her family was facing a very uncertain future and she wanted the dog in a stabile home where it would be cared for. In the second case, a woman was forced to surrender her dog after her husband was deported and she lost her home. We are sure there are many more stories that we haven't heard about.