There's one coronavirus shortage we can all be okay with.
New York City is the epicenter of COVID-19 spread in the U.S., reporting nearly 15,000 confirmed cases as of Wednesday morning. But that devastating statistic has translated into a much more positive one: massive pet adoption rates that are leaving whole shelters empty, Bloomberg reports.
Two rescue groups in New York City, Muddy Paws Rescue and Best Friends Animal Society, say the shelters they work with have either completely run out of adoptable cats and dogs or are coming close, Bloomberg reports. "For the moment we definitely don't have any dogs left to match," said Anna Lai, the marketing director at Muddy Paws. "Which is a great problem to have." Those shelters say they have seen as much as a tenfold increase in adoption applications over the past two weeks, probably because New Yorkers wanted furry friends to be stuck at home with.
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Similar good news also came in from across the country: The ASPCA said its Los Angeles office saw a 70 percent increase in the number of pets going into foster care. Best Friends said it partners with shelters across the country who have run out of pets, so the shortage appears nationwide.
It's all turning into good news for online pet supplier Chewy, Bloomberg notes. While the stock market remains on a downturn (despite brief jumps on the promise of a congressional relief bill), the retailer has seen a 13 percent rise in its stock this year. Other pet pharmaceutical companies are either seeing stock gains or stability — both of which are positives in a slumping market.
