Ray, The sad fact is that economic downturns have resulted in a lot of "people" abandoning pets when they lost homes to foreclosures or evictions or moves to other locales forced by lost jobs, etc.
The bad news, in Maricopa County, has been the staggering numbers. In 2002, 60,589 abandoned pets were taken in by Animal Control and shelters county-wide. That same year, 59,233 of those orphaned pets were euthanized in Maricopa County.
The better news is that the numbers are declining - still bad, but better. In 2011, 46,910 animals were abandoned in Maricopa County and 45,922 were euthanized.
In 2014, 38,200 pets were abandoned and taken in by Animal Control and various shelters. There are no euthanasia numbers for 2014 yet.
The good news is that a concerted effort over the past several years resulted in adoption (no pun intended) county-wide of a policy to not euthanize any healthy abandoned animals taken in. No healthy dog or cat has been euthanized in Maricopa County since September 30, 2005, according to Animal Control officials.
The numbers of pets adopted by new families has grown tremendously.
The flip side of the coin, then, would be that the too-high numbers of euthanasia indicates that a large percentage of abandoned pets are too sick or injured to save by the time they are received at shelters.