German animal shelters seek donations

By Mesut Zeyrek

BONNN (AA) - Germany’s animal shelters are seeking more funding and donations as intake numbers remain high.

Lea Schmitz, spokesperson of Deutscher Tierschutzbund (German Animal Protection Association), said hundreds of animal shelters across the country are providing safe places for dogs, cats and small animals.

"Dog owners have to pay a special tax in Germany, and recently the collected amount was over €400 million ($426 million) in a year. That's a lot of money, but it’s not directly used for animal protection but flows into the general budget," she told Anadolu.

Dog and animal shelters in the country rely mainly on the work of volunteers, and they are mostly financed through donations. Many of them are overwhelmed, as the rate of returned and abandoned animals increased in recent years.

Schmitz said their association brings together around 550 animal shelters, and there are hundreds of others operating across the country.

"We have a good, large network of animal shelters and animal protection organizations in Germany. They are committed to the protection of animals, and they are also taking care of abandoned dogs," she said.

Thanks to the work of the animal shelters, she said, Germany does not have a stray dog problem, although thousands of dogs are abandoned or returned.

"If a dog is found on the street without its owner, then it is immediately taken to an animal shelter and kept there, sometimes it’s taken by its owner after some time, or adopted by a new family. But there are no free-ranging dogs on the streets," she said.

"It's different with the cats, there are a lot of street cats in Germany, although you don't see them," Schmitz added.

Dogs and cats are the most popular pets in Germany. About 15.2 million cats and 10.6 million dogs live in German households, according to the latest figures.