‘Excruciatingly sad’: Shelters bracing for ‘selfish’ return of pandemic pets

Prepare for the great doggy dump.

At the height of the pandemic, animal shelters reported record high adoptions, as bored home dwellers sought out new four-legged friends to keep them company in lockdown. But with reopenings afoot, the same shelters are braced for an influx of pets due to a countrywide epidemic of buyer’s remorse. “People can be very selfish,” Penny Smith-Berk, who owns the Rescue Right animal shelter in Bedford, NY, told The Post. “Life is opening up again. You can impulsively buy a pair of shoes and never wear it again, but there are consequences for a dog — it’s excruciatingly sad.”