Coronavirus, stay-home restrictions and pets

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IRAQ: A woman wearing a protective mask and colored contact lenses holds her cat as she poses for a picture during a protest against corruption in the Iraqi government in the southern city of Basra on Feb. 27. (Hussein Faleh / AFP via Getty Images)

Around the world, animal shelters are emptying out because of the coronavirus outbreak. People who are confined to their homes are adopting or fostering animals en masse. According to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), the benefit of having a companion animal is tangible. The nonprofit is seeing an increase in people interested in fostering and adopting animals. It has managed to find temporary foster homes for most of its animals.

When you can’t leave your home to socialize, and touch has become taboo, many have felt a need for animal companionship. Considering how anxiety-inducing isolation can be, a mood boost will not go amiss. Having a pet around the house may also help you stick to the strategies likely to help you through this period, like daily exercise and structure. Even if you live with other people, a companion animal can be a better distraction.

Sheltering at home can be the perfect time to bring a shelter animal into your home. In California, where 40 million residents were ordered to stay home except for essential jobs or trips, such as getting groceries, Gov. Gavin Newsom noted an important exemption.

“You can still walk your dog,” he said.

Shelters need the help. Some animal rescue centers in big cities are closing their doors to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus between people, but the animals still need care. Many organizations, hoping to find foster homes for their remaining charges, are still processing requests and handing off animals while closed to the public.

Here is a look at some of the lucky animals and their owners as they shelter in place around the world.

APTOPIX Virus Outbreak Czech Republic
PRAGUE: A man pets a dog that sits in a window in downtown Prague, Czech Republic, on March 24. (Petr David Josek / AP)
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WEST BANK: Hiba Junaidi, wearing protective gloves and a mask amid the coronavirus outbreak, poses with one of the stray cats she cares for in her house's backyard, which she had turned into a shelter, near the West Bank city of Hebron, on April 7. (Hazem Bader / AFP via Getty Images)
Virus Outbreak Pet Adoptions
U.S.: Cheddar looks through a hole in his box before being taken home by his new family at the Animal Humane Society in Golden Valley, Minn., on March 22. Hundreds of pets get new homes before shelters pause adoptions due to the coronavirus. (Evan Frost / AP)
Virus Outbreak Virginia Pets
U.S.: Lex Taylor, a veterinarian assistant, checks in a Yorkshire terrier named Gabby on March 26 in Roanoke, Va. Angels of Assisi has started offering its low-cost vet clinic on a curb outside the clinic to reduce people's exposure to the coronavirus. (Heather Rousseau / AP)
Virus Outbreak Pet Industry
Virus Outbreak Peru The Vulnerable
PERU: Zulema Aguinaga smiles at her pet cat as she starts the day April 3 in her small room she shares with her son and elderly aunt, in a deteriorated house nicknamed "Luriganchito," or "Little Lurigancho," after San Pedro de Lurigancho, the country's most populous prison, in Lima, Peru. (Rodrigo Abd / AP)
Ukraine Virus Outbreak
UKRAINE: A woman in a face mask to prevent the coronavirus spread walks a dog in Kyiv, Ukraine, on April 6. (Efrem Lukatsky / AP)
Virus Outbreak One Good Thing Nepal Animals
NEPAL: A Nepalese volunteer feeds monkeys March 31 at Pashupatinath temple, the country's most revered Hindu temple, during the lockdown in Kathmandu, Nepal. Guards, staff and volunteers are making sure animals and birds on the temple grounds don't starve during the country's lockdown. (Niranjan Shrestha / AP)
Virus Outbreak One Good Thing Nepal Animals
NEPAL: A Nepalese volunteer feeds an ox March 31 at Pashupatinath temple, the country's most revered Hindu temple, during the lockdown in Kathmandu, Nepal. Guards, staff and volunteers are making sure animals and birds on the temple grounds don't starve during the country's lockdown. (Niranjan Shrestha / AP)
Virus Outbreak Colombia
COLOMBIA: A monkey sits on the shoulder of zookeeper Jorge Mogollon on April 21 at the Santacruz Zoo, which is closed amid a lockdown to help contain the coronavirus spread in San Antonio near Bogota, Colombia. (Fernando Vergara / AP)
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VENEZUELA: A man wears a face mask March 20 while he carries his dog with a protective suit as a preventive measure against the coronavirus spread in Caracas, Venezuela. (Federico Parra / AFP via Getty Images)
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INDIA: A man wearing a facemask feeds pigeons on a empty street during a 21-day government-imposed nationwide lockdown as a preventive measure against the COVID-19 coronavirus in Kolkata on March 26, 2020. (DIBYANGSHU SARKAR / AFP via Getty Images)
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LEBANON: Zaynab Razzouk, head of the animal protection NGO Carma, hugs a dog at the shelter in the area of Koura, north of the Lebanese capital Beirut on April 3, 2020. - According to Razzouk, dogs and cats are getting dumped every day as a result of the outbreak of Covid-19. (JOSEPH EID / AFP via Getty Images)
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PALESTINE: A shepherd wearing a protective mask and gloves, tends to his sheep near the village of Tarqumia near the West Bank town of Hebron, on April 5,2020, amid the novel coronavirus pandemic crisis. (HAZEM BADER / AFP via Getty Images)
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CHINA: A man (R) wearing a facemask amid the concerns over the COVID-19 coronavirus holds a dog as he walks at a shopping mall in Beijing on April 9, 2020. (NICOLAS ASFOURI / AFP via Getty Images)
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THAILAND: A street food vendor (C) and a customer (L) in face masks, as a preventive measure against the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus, have their photo taken with their dogs in Chinatown in Bangkok on April 17, 2020. (LILLIAN SUWANRUMPHA / AFP via Getty Images)
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RUSSIA: A woman wearing a face mask holds her dog as she visits "ZooAcademy" veterinary clinic in Moscow on April 21, 2020, during a strict lockdown in Russia to stop the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus. (YURI KADOBNOV / AFP via Getty Images)
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RUSSIA: A woman looks at her dog during a treatment procedure at "ZooAcademy" veterinary clinic in Moscow on April 21, 2020, during a strict lockdown in Russia to stop the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus. (YURI KADOBNOV / AFP via Getty Images)
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PALESTINE: A worker wearing protective gear feeds a peacock at the Qalqilya Zoo in the occupied West Bank, after the animal park was completely closed to visitors due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, on April 21, 2020. (JAAFAR ASHTIYEH / AFP via Getty Images)
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Businesses Close Stores Nationwide In Response To Coronavirus Pandemic
NEW YORK, USA: A man walks with his dog in a bag in the nearly empty streets in lower Manhattan on March 20, 2020 in New York City. Schools, businesses and most places where people congregate across the country have been shut down as health officials try to slow the spread of COVID-19. (Spencer Platt / Getty Images)
Daily Life In Wuhan After Months-Long Lockdown
CHINA: An owner squirted his dog with alcohol nearby Yangtze river on April 17, 2020 in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China.the government started lifting outbound travel restrictions on April 8 from Wednesday after almost 11 weeks of lockdown to stem the spread of COVID-19. (Getty Images)