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Pets and Holiday Season: Often given up or abandoned
Cats are sitting in the Leverkusen animal shelter. photo
© Federico Gambarini/dpa
If you decide to have a pet, you should take care of it during your holiday trip beforehand. Unfortunately, many people don’t do that – and dogs, cats and the like end up in animal shelters.
The long-awaited summer months with vacation and travel time are at the same time “sad high season” for the animal shelters. Pets are often given to animal shelters during vacation time or parked in front of their doors, as reported by the German Animal Welfare Association. Again and again dogs, cats or small animals are abandoned somewhere.
“Exposing an animal simply because of a holiday trip is completely irresponsible and lacks empathy,” said spokeswoman Lea Schmitz of the German Press Agency. There are drastic cases: “Sometimes it is unfortunately the case that animals are not found early enough and die in agony.”
According to Schmitz, there are no exact figures for abandoned animals. According to their information, animal shelters take in around 350,000 new animals throughout Germany every year. First and foremost, these are found animals, which are picked up without an owner. Some of these are missing animals that are picked up by their owners, and others are pets that the owners wanted to get rid of.
Some pets are given to the local animal shelter by appointment and for a small fee, said veterinarian Ralf Unna, Vice President of the State Animal Protection Association (LTV) NRW. A “not inconsiderable number” of owners simply leave their cats, dogs, hamsters, rabbits or ornamental birds to their fate. For many years, a wave movement has been observed in connection with the long school holidays when animals are handed over or released.
The abandonment of animals is not a minor offence, but a misdemeanor, explained Lea Schmitz. A violation can be punished with a fine of up to 25,000 euros. If the animal suffers demonstrably longer-lasting pain or damage, this can be punished as animal cruelty with up to three years in prison or a fine.