We cannot pretend to build the house from the roof. If we want to help street animals, the solution is not to help each one of them individually. We must demand a more competent public administration and fight for a society more committed to responsible ownership. It’s better to prevent than to cure.
1. Demand an ethical and efficient collection service from your City Council
The municipalities are responsible for any living being found in their municipal area . Therefore, they are obliged to have a collection service and facilities to house them, whether they are their own or have it subcontracted.
First of all, you should find out if the service is carried out with municipal resources or if it is managed by a company or association that protects animals . To do this, you can and should report to your Town Hall.
Then, find out how it works: what budget they allocate, if they have a 24-hour collection service, what their facilities are like, if they apply ‘ zero sacrifice ‘, if they have a veterinary service, how adoptions are managed…
Visit the facilities and get to know the work they do in-situ , look at their reviews on the internet, search your local social networks if there are complaints about the service, listen to the opinion of neighbors, veterinarians, volunteers, local protectors…
Fortunately, we find more and more municipalities aware of the protection of animals. Some already reflect in their municipal ordinances , or specifications, that the management of these services with animal protection associations prevails. Unlike a company, which has to provide some benefits, a non-profit association will allocate the full amount to perform the service, which has an impact on the welfare of its animals.
But there are still many other municipalities with poor management in terms of abandoned animals. If this is the case in your locality, ask your local politicians to do their job. Find out if there is already a neighborhood platform or association promoting changes and support it.
If not, file a complaint with your town hall (better by registration or electronic office so that there is a record), seek support and advice from animal protection associations in your area, organize and disseminate a collection of signatures, escalate the problem to higher bodies (Deputation, Autonomy…), echo it on social networks and local press…
2. Support a protector
You don’t need to collaborate with the most “renowned” protector or the one that famous person spoke about in an interview… Collaborate better with a nearby protector, this will make you more involved , in addition to being more informed of what happens near you : events, campaigns, news…
You can give them financial support: by being a member, making occasional donations, buying their products, sponsoring an animal, supporting their crowdfunding… Or with your time: becoming a volunteer, helping in specific actions (events, solidarity transport…).
Or simply with the gesture of following them on social networks and sharing their publications.
3. Adopt or foster
It’s simple: by adopting an animal or fostering it temporarily while it finds its forever home, we will be “freeing” a hole in an animal protection center that can be occupied by another animal that is on the street.
4. Be a responsible and exemplary owner
Sterilize and identify your pet. Approximately 74% of dogs and 36% of cats are not sterilized. 13% do not get sterilized because their “human family” wants to breed with their pet. Spain is the European leader in abandonment, with hundreds of thousands abandoned each year.
With the sterilization of private pets we would be attacking one of the main causes of abandonment: 14% of the animals collected come from unwanted litters .
On the other hand, the identification will help a lost animal to be recovered by its family or, if it has been abandoned, to find the person responsible for a crime of abandonment and possible animal abuse.
And tell everyone about the importance of sterilization and identification!
6. Don’t look away
If you find an animal on the street, help him . Contact the municipal collection service (remember that it is an obligation of the City Council).
If, on the other hand, you finally decide to take it with you, you will have to assume that from that moment on you are responsible for the animal. Remember to take it to a vet so they can read if the animal has a microchip and they can locate its family. If you are not going to adopt him and want to find him a family, you can ask for help from a protector.
Unfortunately, their help is often impossible as they are overwhelmed . In that case, it is important that you manage a responsible adoption to avoid more abandoned animals. Ask an association for advice on how to make a contract for the adoption and delivery of the animal identified, sterilized (or with a commitment to do so), dewormed and vaccinated.
References:
Dr. Jaume Fatjo. 2021. “He would never do it” study by the Affinity Foundation on the abandonment, loss and adoption of pets in Spain 2020.
Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Environment. 2015. Analysis and characterization of the pet sector (Results Report).
