Daily, countless cases of animal abuse and abandonment see the light of publicity. And everyone’s permanent refrain is phrases like: “Where is the animal welfare society, what is the animal welfare society doing, I took it to the society and they didn’t accept it, I called the society and they didn’t come, they should be ashamed,” etc.
And everyone, of course, speaks with the certainty that the animal welfare society can pick up, vaccinate, neuter, and treat every single incident that arises.
However, no one has wondered if the animal welfare society has the ability to do any of these things. And this is because a large portion of the population takes it for granted that every society has a plethora of well-paid employees, vast pastures, and huge building facilities. And of course, a fortune in money coming from the municipalities, the state, and the European Union.
However, reality is completely different. The societies consist of a few volunteers (volunteers, not employees), usually 5-6 people, who have taken on far more animals than they can handle. Their homes and the shelters they have—if they have any—are more than full, usually with animals that have been there for years. And their facilities are nothing short of tragic. Animals living locked up in makeshift and dilapidated cages, animals tied to trees, without walks and with problematic grooming, care, and feeding. Shelters that flood with the first drops of rain and in the summer you cannot stand the sun and the heat. Sometimes they even lack something very basic. Water… (One of the problems faced by the three animal welfare societies of Perama).
And regarding their funding, it essentially comes from contributions from the volunteers themselves and ordinary citizens. Either through the bazaars they organize, or with 5-10 euros, or with a sack of food and some medicines.
The municipalities, which according to legislation have the responsibility for the operation of shelters, either declare inability, or turn a deaf ear, or create torture chambers… Volos is still fresh in our memory.
Special reference must also be made to the requests and the way these are made to the societies:
-outside my house there is a dog and my wife is pregnant, come pick him up we are in danger,
-at the school they abandoned a puppy, it will bite the children, go pick it up,
-my dog is about to give birth, as soon as she does where should I bring the puppies,
-I had taken a dog from you 5 years ago, let me bring him back because I can no longer keep him,
-my dog got sick let me take him to the vet you provide without paying, etc.
Requests basically unreasonable, formulated with audacity, arrogance, and selfishness, to people who have exceeded their endurance limits.
And before someone manages to ask me “and how do you know all this, and from what position are you speaking,” I will answer that all the years I deal with animals, I went to societies, and cleaned cages, and walked animals, and ascertained with my own eyes the problems that each society faces.
And whoever has doubts about what I write, I would suggest taking a walk by the animal welfare society of his area. To go inside, to see the spaces and the animals hosted there, to talk to the volunteers and wonder—not if he himself could cope with such a life, but if he would go, even for a walk once, to such a place there.
So the animal welfare society is not the solution to the problem. And since the state and the municipalities cannot or do not want to, the solution is us. All of us. Each one as and as much as he can. Because as I already explained, the society needs hands, facilities, foster homes, adoptions, money, food, antiparasitics, medicines. In a word, it needs help.
Something that on our part requires a change of mentality, development of animal welfare consciousness, and taking initiatives.
So the next time someone blurts out “what is the animal welfare society doing,” it is good to answer that the society is doing what it can. What exactly are you doing and what can you do for the animal welfare society?
Giorgis Taxidevtis
