THEThe phenomenon ends precisely in the summer months, in conjunction with the departures for the holidays, when bringing your dog with them it may seem too complicated. But the abandonment of animals is A plague that flows throughout the year, which also feeds for economic motivations. And so there are 55 thousand new stray dogs every year: abandoned by their families, they end up on the road. Over 80% of them do not survive the first month, victim of accidents, hardships or mistreatment. And those who make it enter the ranks of the stray dogs, which are about 700,000 in our country, with a particularly critical diffusion in the southern regions.
Abandoned dogs, they are 55 thousand every year. How much economic difficulties count
Beyond any easy and obvious condemnation, The key to preventing abandonment is – also – support families. This is the mission of Leap: «In addition to taking care of the stray, we concretely support people in economic difficulty, To prevent the lack of resources forces them to separate from their animal. Offering this support means not only protecting dogs, but also keeping families united. And to build a more just and responsible society, where humans and animals can coexist in harmony ». Luigi Griffini, national president of Balzoo – Italian Zoological Bench APS explains it.
Present throughout the national territory with over 800 volunteers and 78 local delegations, Balzoo manages shelters, oases and feline colonies. But also special structures such as Dishabiliatethe first center dedicated to disabled cats. It is the first association in Italy that has created a Animal food counter, With the aim of counteracting abandonment and promoting animal welfare. Every year distributes more than 380,000 kg of foods to over 30,000 animals, supporting thousands of families in difficulty.
Abandonments of dogs before the summer holidays and stray dogs
But if in some cases a concrete support to families in difficulty is decisive to prevent abandonments, it is obviously not always like this. In many cases Those who abandon it for lack of responsibility for the animals adopted. According to an SWG search for Mars, 45% of Italian pet parent renounces traveling with their animal, and one in three do it for organizational difficulties. In recent years, moreover, the boom of adoptions recorded during the Lockdown period due to the Covid-19 pandemic has unfortunately also led to an increase in abandonments, often caused by superficial choices or difficulties that emerged with the return to normal.
The effects of this Lack of awareness and responsibility are in animal refuges but also in the streets, above all southern Italy, where stray dogs It is a real social and cultural emergency, still too often invisible.
The data of the Ministry of Health on stray dogs
In Italy, according to the database of the Ministry of Healthwhich collects the numbers on the stray region by region, As of 03 January 2025, it was approximately 89 thousand inputs divided between health kennels and refuge kennels. Of these 20.357 They returned to their owner, 32,620 data for adoption.
They are not easy numbers to interpret. For example, the data relating to Calabria are amazed, which in the face of 1,096 entrances did not return any dog to the owners and did not adopt any. Or those of Friuli Venezia Giulia, Trentino Alto Adige or Molise who have not sterilized a single cat, despite the practice is decisive to reduce proliferation. The Marche Region does not seem to have sent any data.
As for absolute numbers, it is Campania the region that recorded the greatest number of entrances to health kennels, That is, the first reception centers intended to hospitalize, visit and identify if possible the animals just seized or bewildered. 8,833 cases, to which 4,897 animals guests of the refuge kennels are added, those in which prolonged detention is carried out, up to adoption or death.
To follow Lombardywith 6126 inputs in the Healthcare and 2,076 in the refuge. And Sicily, with 7,537 total entrances (do not operate distinction between the structures). The greatest number of adoptions recorded the Puglia with 4,785 dogs entrusted (to follow Campania with 4,250 and Lazio with 4,193), while Lombardy is the primacy for the return to the owners (3,927).
The fund for the protection of well -being and the fight against abandonment, stopped at 2022
The Ministry It collects the data to be able to start the fund for the protection of well -being and the fight against abandonmentforeseen by law 281/91, the one that allowed to overcome the suppression of the beehs, which until that year was still carried out a few days after the capture.
The last distribution dates back to 2022 and with an equipment of 2 million euros for all regions. A figure far from those that were made available between 2005 and 2010, always between 3 and 5 million. But between 2011 and 2017, even much lower figures were allocated, intrud to 300 thousand euros. In the years 2018, 2023 and 2024 there was no distribution. Hence the recourse – inevitable – to the volunteers.
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