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ARCHIVED - Pets are abandoned in Spain at the rate of 1 every 2 minutes
Over 300,000 pets were left to fend for themselves in 2019, many of them shortly after Christmas
As a new year begins it is saddening to report that the number of pets abandoned in Spain during 2019 increased, according to figures published by Ecologistas en Acción, to around 300,000, while the number of animals adopted into foster homes fell during the year.
To put that into more easily comprehensible terms, this means that on average pets were abandoned last year in this country at a rate of something over one every two minutes, and the ecologists also report that within the total, as well as cats and dogs, was a significant number of more exotic and unusual species such as tortoises, turtles, ferrets, raccoons and parrots. These species are not native to many parts of Spain, and as a result if they survive in the wild they can represent a threat to native flora and fauna.
These data were released to coincide with the festive season because approximately half of all cats and dogs acquired by households in Spain are gifts, meaning that the responsibility of looking after them is foisted on the new owners without their having decided to take it on. Ecologistas en Acción also report that a third of all abandonments occur within the first few months of ownership when the burdens of owning an animal become apparent and the novelty wears off, and that this coincides mainly with the period after Christmas and the end of the hunting season.
Unfortunately, many of the animals left to fend for themselves inevitably die, but even so Fundación Affinity reports that in 2018 a total of 113,217 dogs and cats were rescued by animal protection associations and Town Halls. Even more unfortunate, perhaps, is the fact that adoption rates are insufficient to match this demand for new homes, and despite new “zero sacrifice” laws being brought in all over the country many are eventually put down.
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