Analysis - Implementation of the Animal Protection Act
Animal Friends Croatia made an analysis of the implementation of the Animal Protection Act in 2020 in Croatia. "It took us 10 months, almost all this year, to collect data from 540 local government units, and even after repeated requests and reminders, 16 of them did not send the requested data," says Animal Friends. They emphasize that this is the first thorough and relevant research, given that the data included more than 97% of local governments, and they are responsible for the care of abandoned animals in their area. They also point out that abandoned animals are the result of the irresponsibility of individuals, which must be consistently and adequately sanctioned.
The obtained data confirm the experiences of animal protection associations, which continue to take care of a large number of abandoned animals. In almost half of the territory of Croatia, there is a lack of thorough implementation of dog microchipping control by visiting every household, although this legal obligation should have been implemented by June 2018. Also, more than half of the local communities did not prescribe permanent sterilization of dogs and cats, with exceptions, although this effective preventive measure directly affects the control of the population of abandoned animals, but even those who prescribed it do not implement it properly. In addition, 75% of cities and municipalities do not fund or subsidize the castration of care animals and wild cats, despite the fact that up to 10 castrations can be paid for the cost of caring for one abandoned animal, thus preventing uncontrolled reproduction. More than 16% of local self-government units do not have a contract with a shelter for the care of abandoned animals, which is devastating.
You can read the analysis in full HERE.
