As the yearly graduation season comes around again, many college students will leave their schools and pets.

Once a source of stress relief, as well as companionship or even a symbol of love, our four-legged friends face a hard time.

Recently, more stray pets can be seen in university campuses in Southwest China’s Chongqing municipality, the Chongqing Evening News reported on Thursday.

Gu Jie, a staff member working in Southwest University of Political Science and Law who always buys cat food to feed the stray cats, said the number of homeless cats and dogs has greatly increased as the graduate season nears.

Some teachers and school staff say pets are always abandoned by their student owners or come from other places.

To feed a pet as a love symbol for couples is also very common on campus where even feeding animals is not allowed in students’ dormitories, a student of Southwest University said. Once the lovers part, the pets are abandoned and then reduced to strays.

In Sichuan International Studies University, a retired teacher has built a shelter in the school’s forest for the stray pets and feeds them every day.

Some graduate students in Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications write notes on the campus forum to find adoption for their little pets.

The director of the city’s Small Animal Protection Association said to let pets stray is an act of disrespect for life and he firmly opposes students adopting animals in schools because they are always busy with studies and job hunting and don’t have enough time and money to take good care of pets.