Abandoned dogs and cats, it's a red-flag summer

There is alarm over the summer abandonments of dogs and cats which have increased throughout the country this year

• This summer the numbers of dog and cat abandonments have increased significantly.
• The main animal rights associations have moved to promote anti-abandonment campaigns throughout the national territory.
• Among the causes of the phenomenon are the economic problems of Italian families.The post-pandemic effect does not appear to impact the increase.

Like every summer, watch out for abandoned dogs and cats.This year they have definitely increased, at least according to what the data provided by the main animal rights associations and official veterinary bodies report.The Ministry of Health, in this regard, is lapidary:they entered Italian health kennels 72.115 dogs, e 29.194 they are those welcomed by shelter kennels.In all, overall, it is about 101.309 new entries.In the last two weeks of June they were abandoned and recovered by Enpa (National animal protection agency) more than 1.000 puppies of which 210 in Calabria, 194 in Sicily e 132 in Sardinia.Negative record also for the city of Reggio Calabria where, in one day, the same organization recovered 60 puppies, left to die on the streets or of hunger and thirst under the sun.Scary data.But let's look at the numbers better and try to get a more precise idea of ​​this negative trend.

Summer dropouts, a portal and an educational campaign are born

Black shirt of kennel entrances goes to Lazio with 9.158 of new presences in health kennels e 3.384 in the shelters, followed by Campania with 8.702 four-legged friends in the kennel and 3.200 subjects admitted to shelters, while Sicily follows closely behind 8.192 dogs left in public facilities.To combat the phenomenon of abandonments and with the aim of promoting a culture of responsible ownership, based on knowledge of ethological needs and legal obligations, the portal was created In his paws which will pave the way for a broader educational and information campaign Fnovi(National Federation of Italian Veterinary Orders), always in collaboration with the Ministry of Health.All of this will help those who want to adopt an animal and want to move towards a more informed choice without forgetting to educate those who already own animals and wish to establish a more correct and responsible relationship with them.

It should be remembered that abandoning pets is a criminal offense punishable by law arrest for up to one year or with a fine up from 1.000 to 10.000 euros (according toarticle 727 of the Criminal Code).Despite this, especially in the summer, abandonments multiply exponentially, thanks to the desire for holidays, the increasingly present economic crisis, the general indifference now prevailing in terms of values ​​and social commitment, also and above all towards four-legged friends.

Appeals against the abandonment of dogs and cats

It's not just the dogs are abandoned, but also the cats, especially in summer, and given that these animals are almost always devoid of microchip it's easier to push them away.Enpa also reports another type of harmful behaviour, that of assignment to other owners or to the organizations themselves of the subjects you want to remove from the household.This is a phenomenon which, if in some ways can be understood (death of the owner, post-pandemic economic difficulties), in other cases it takes the form of actual abandonment.“There are many transfers, a new frontier of abandonment, often the result of hasty adoptions and a lack of awareness of what kind of commitment welcoming an animal entails, even in economic terms”, declared Carla Rocchi, Enpa national president. And everything seems to contradict the positive trend of last year which saw the adoption of dogs and cats increase.

“The dog and the cat depend entirely on us.Abandonment is a condemnation, it is the cluster bomb that extends stray dogs to a system and 'normality' in too many territories, where the good practice of sterilizing owned or working dogs is not at all consolidated and degenerates to the point of becoming endemic plague of stray dogs.And therefore a problem of public order.More punitive laws can be made towards those who commit the crime, but the most effective weapon is to build a culture of respect, adoption or conscious purchasing, acting on the awareness of a commitment that is lifelong." the veterinarians of Fnovi  throwing the campaign against abandonments.

The relevance of abandonments after the rush to have a dog during the pandemic to "get around" the lockdown, the curfew, therefore, would not be dominant.The dogs entrusted to others had been in the family for more than two years and a significant portion of abandoned dogs had been in the home for more than five years, therefore long before the pandemic.Many observers have pointed the finger at the various pro-adoption campaigns wanted by many municipalities or Italian regions.They could, in fact, encourage the adoption of a four-legged friend to take advantage of bonuses of various types (exemption from some municipal tax, monetary contribution, pension benefits) which, once "exploited", could be the cause of the abandonment of the dog or cat by virtue of which the prize was obtained.But, in the end, the final reason among the many listed goes back to the lack of respect for the life around us and for animals.And a non-anthropocentric culture once again becomes essential for the correct functioning of the relationship between human beings and the environment.