The SPA is sounding the alarm this Wednesday: its shelters are full and summer is far from over. With the summer holidays, it is the sad return of abandonments. They are up compared to last year and since the end of July, the shelters have been saturated. For its part, the 30 Million Friends Foundation has donated more than one million euros to independent shelters.
8,818 animals in refuges and SPA houses
The 63 shelters and houses of the Society for the Protection of Animals (SPA) are already full, worse they saturate! They currently welcome 8,818 dogs and cats but also rodents, horses and farm animals waiting for a new family.. Last year at the same time there were 8,225 in shelters, i.e. a 7% increase in coverage. On the other hand, the SPA notes a decline compared to the year 2021, a record year in terms of abandonments. “We operate on waiting lists to welcome new animals because in the summer there are few adoptions, people are on vacation. So the places are not available”worries a spokeswoman to AFP, who hopes that adoptions will resume.
More than one million euros donated by the 30 Million Friends Foundation
For its part, to help independent shelters, the 30 Million Friends Foundation donated more than €1.35 million this summer to 214 establishments in France. Aid is vital according to Reha Hutin, president of the foundation, because without it the animals “delivered to themselves, brought to the pound, risk euthanasia within eight days if their master does not claim them”. According to the foundation, 79 animals are collected in shelters for an average of 50 places available. They would be between 50,000 and 80,000 animals waiting for a new master.