P.the person who returned them probably does not fully realize the gesture they have made. Are abandoned dogs those who, adopted during the lockdown, are now sent back to the kennel from which they came or “passed” to another owner. For the furry man who thought he had found a home and a family, the trauma amounts to abandonment.
Puppies adopted during the lockdown, abandoned dogs now
There were 3.4 million Italians who, between 2020 and 2021, chose to adopt a dog (21.6% of the owners). Love at first sight, but hit and run, considering that, finished the lockdown, over 117,000 owners have changed their minds by returning the animal to the kennel or entrusting it to another family. This is what emerges from the survey commissioned by Facile.it to EMG Different *.
They turned out to be “too complex to manage”
The 28.3% of those who have taken a dog in the last 2 years said they did it on purpose to lighten the lockdown and about 196,000 people admitted to having taken it only to circumvent the mobility limits imposed by the Government at that time (5.7%).
The main reason the owners have renounced to the company of the dog adopted during the pandemic is that, once the lockdown was over, they realized that the animal was becoming too complex to manage and therefore they didn’t want him anymore (63%); in other cases, however, the decision has been made as a result of material damage caused by Fido (37%).
Summer and the phenomenon of abandoned dogs
«Today there are many insurance for dogs and cats who, with a few tens of euros a year, not only protect the owner from the economic risks associated with the animal’s exuberance but also can assist in the event of a trip with our four-legged friends “, explains Irene Giani , animal insurance manager of Facile.it. Information that should be remembered especially in this season, when the first weekends are organized by the sea or in the mountains and on the eve of the summer holidays. In fact, this is the most terrible time of the year for the phenomenon of abandoned dogs (the LAV estimates that 80,000 cats and 50,000 dogs are abandoned every year in Italy and this trend reaches one of its peaks in the summer).
Adding cats and dogs together, the total number of Italians who have taken an animal in the last 2 years rises to just over 5 million, that is to say 23.2% of those who have a 4-legged companion (percentage that reaches 31.7% among the respondents resident in the South). It must be said, however, that the pandemic has been a lever especially for residents in the North West, where the percentage of those who declared having taken a pet just to lighten the lockdown is equal to 38.4% (compared to 24.5% recorded at national level).
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