One dog at the Valley Animal Center in Fresno, California, is breaking the hearts of the shelter staff and people watching online after she was returned to the animal sanctuary just a few months after she had finally been adopted.
The dog is named Mother Gothal, and she’s seven years old. She appears to be a labrador mixture with a glossy black coat, a white patch on her chest, and soulful eyes. Those who care for animals are always happy to see them adopted into a hopefully permanent home, but the personnel at Valley Animal Center wanted this for Mother Gothal even more than usual. The dog had already spent 900 days—almost three years—in the shelter before being adopted, and now she’s been returned.
Posting on TikTok, one staff member said they were “overjoyed” when Mother Gothal found a home because she had been in the shelter for so long. “It’s heartbreaking to see her so sad,” they wrote.
Social media commenters felt the same way, describing Mother Gothal as looking sweet and sad, and begging someone to “please adopt this sweet angel.”
There is no information yet on why Mother Gothal may have been returned, but her plight is not unusual. Shelter Animals Count says that more than 6 million animals get taken to shelters every year in the U.S., and last year’s count of 6.5 million was four percent higher than for 2022. At the end of 2023 there were 117,000 more cats and dogs at American shelters than there were the year before.
As of this year, 25 percent of people with pets reported that they’ve thought about giving their companion a new home within the past year. The most common reason given is “housing difficulties.” And as pet adoptions have grown over the years, so has the rate of returning them to shelters.
A University of Denver study from 2020 examined the most common reasons people return animals they’ve adopted. For 38 percent of dog adopters, behavioral problems and aggression were the most commonly cited factors. More than half of cat owners cited only “personal reasons” when asked why they brought their cats back to the shelter.
A blind cat with brain damage named Mabel is also causing sadness online after she was recently left on the doorstep of the shelter from which she was adopted with no explanation.
