SAO PAULO — While the coronavirus crisis has depressed most sectors of the economy in Brazil, the country with more dogs than children splurged much attention, and money, on its pets in 2020.
As lockdown measures compelled people to see less of their human friends, many turned their attention to their four-legged ones.
Sales of pet food and accessories rose a higher-than-expected 13.5 percent in 2020 from the previous year, according to the Brazil Pet Institute, an industry body, after nearly doubling in the past five years.
Pet adoption has soared too — the upside of a rise in abandonments as the pandemic cost many people their income.
“I spent a lot of time at home, …
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