In bone: So are pets abandoned by their owners before economic crisis (photos)

Venezuelans struggling to get food for his family have chosen to leave their pets in streets, parks and shelters, given the difficult economic situation in the country.

"The crisis has hit hard," said Maria Arteaga, a retired teacher who now runs a shelter in Los Teques, two hours from Caracas, where it feeds and serves hundreds of starving dogs abandoned to their fate.

"We have two aspects: 'the abandonment because I can not buy food' or 'because I leave the country and have no way to take it,'" said Arteaga, who began to host puppies at home until they too were made. "It's amazing, we get purebred dogs, you see that they are family."

Arteaga confessed that the number of animals received in the shelter, a plot next to a ramshackle road has increased to the point that, every few hours, comes a new abandoned dog.

Venezuela is on track to close its third year of recession while inflation-the highest in the world and shortages of basic goods, has thousands in long lines to buy essential goods and even food for their pets.

The price of animal feed has increased exponentially in recent years. A 20 kg bag of dog food can cost 55,000 bolivars-about $ 55 in hardly affordable for someone who receives the minimum monthly salary of 22,577 bolivares ($ 22.57) parallel market.

Even, unable to feed their animals, major zoos in the country reported that in the first six months of the year, at least 50 of its copies died of starvation.

Shelters like Arteaga are proliferating as the crisis deepens and the Socialist government finds it increasingly difficult to fulfill its plan of vaccines and pet shelters, known as "Mission Nevado".

Maria Rodriguez, an engineer in systems 33, is one of many Venezuelans who decided to move to Spain because his salary is insufficient to support his family.

One afternoon recently found a wandering down the street that her 12 year old son wanted to stay to keep you company at the Border Collie has three years dog. However, they decided to leave the refuge of Arteaga.

"Unfortunately not enough to eat. So how one can give food to two or three animals? "Rodriguez lamented, saying that will leave your dog with his mother, who plans to send $ 50 each month, more than double the minimum wage.