Animalists, urgent resumption of the adoption of dogs and cats

An immediate resumption of the adoptions of dogs and cats, which have suffered a sudden setback due to the restrictions imposed by the coronavirus emergency. This is what a group of animal welfare associations (Animalisti Italiani, Enpa, Lav, Leidaa, Lndc and Oipa) ask for in a letter to Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, to the Minister of Health Roberto Speranza and to the Animal Health DG of the same ministry, Silvio Borrello, stressing the need for 'urgent institutional intervention'.

Due to the health crisis, associations, adoptions and related activities have been greatly reduced to exceptional cases, if not completely blocked, in the framework of actions to limit travel as much as possible.

"After a month and a half from the first measures, the load of animals in public and private structures has gone beyond any already heavy budget that is recorded in periods of normal activity -: over one hundred thousand dogs per year in the kennels surveyed and tens only of thousands of cats. "

This is the alarm raised by animal rights activists, who ask for government intervention so that - as already done in France, from 16 April - the adoptions of dogs and cats and the related necessary displacements are resumed with the necessary rules of human health safety for pre-custody checks and family transfers.

"In these last weeks of forced isolation - the associations point out - the presence of an animal in the family has been a comfort for many people, especially for the lonely ones, or for the elderly". "It is also for them that we ask for the full resumption of adoptions", conclude Animalisti Italiani, ENPA, LAV, LEIDAA, LNDC and OIPA.