Maryland pet surrenders are not just a shelter statistic. They are a community signal: families are under strain, shelters are stretched, and pets need more people willing to help before a crisis becomes irreversible.
As of September 14, 2026, the strongest statewide context in the supplied research comes from Maryland’s Fiscal Year 2025 reporting period, which covered July 2024 through June 2025. That report did not describe one single cause. … Read the rest