Today is World Dog Day, the appeal:“To abandon them is to let them die”

It is estimated that every year in Italy an average of 50,000 dogs and 80,000 cats are abandoned, more than 80% of which risk dying in accidents, starvation or due to mistreatment

ROME - "World Dog Day is celebrated on July 21st.The anniversary was born in 2004 to honor our four-legged friends and raise everyone's awareness of the issue of abandonment. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there are more than 300 million dogs in the world and 70% are homeless.It is estimated that every year in Italy an average of 50,000 dogs and 80,000 cats are abandoned, more than 80% of which risk dying in accidents, hardship or due to mistreatment, as well as increasing the number of strays, already equal to over 900,000 specimens.The highest percentage of abandoned animals is recorded in the summer period, 25-30%. Between July and September, around 600 dogs and cats are abandoned every day, just when leaving for holidays poses the problem of the presence of our four-legged friend who has been faithful to us up until now and who on many occasions, unfortunately, is perceived as an obstacle. With these record summer temperatures, abandoning pets is equivalent to having them die in a few hours“.This is the appeal launched by Cinzia Caruso, National manager of the Animal Health and Defense Department of the Ecologist Movement Ecoitaliasolidale and Piergiorgio Benvenuti, National President of Ecoitaliasolidale.

“According to a 2019 research conducted by Censis, Italians are the first in Europe for the number of pets:they are present in 52% of homes.With 53.1 pets per 100 inhabitants, Italy ranks second in Europe, an extremely positive record for our country.We at Ecoitaliasolidale, like every year - remember Caruso and Benvenuti - are dedicating a national campaign against the abandonment of pets called 'We don't abandon him, we don't act like beasts', with a logo designed by a group of children, recalling Mahatma Ghandi's famous phrase:“The greatness and moral progress of a nation are judged on the basis of the way it treats animals”.Not only that - Benvenuti and Caruso continue - not being used to being alone and in the case of abandonment along the roads, this phenomenon often represents a serious danger for traffic, so much so that one could incur, we would like to remind you, responsibilities such as manslaughter, in the event that abandoned animals cause very serious accidents.We must undoubtedly evaluate positively how the institutions, local authorities and all those involved in communication are finally increasing their efforts to combat the abandonment and mistreatment of domestic animals, precisely by launching greater and more incisive awareness campaigns, but much still needs to be done. We are convinced that we need to start right from schools to teach young people greater attention and sensitivity towards the environment in a more general way and towards animals, to help create a better future. Remembering that to date Italy was the third country in the world to include attention to the environment, the right to protection of nature, in its Constitutional Charter, i.e.:the right to life, to the diversity of life, to water, to clean air, to the dignity of animals".