(ANSA) - ROME, JUL 14 - If the number of Italians who have decided to welcome a pet into their homes has increased with the Covid pandemic, now the risk is that many of the new owners, moved by enthusiasm but little prepared for the responsibility of management , leave their four-legged friends on the street.
Faced with the problem, which each year affects an average of 80,000 cats and 50,000 dogs, the National Federation of Italian Veterinary Orders (Fnovi) launches the campaign "Abandonment is a nightmare. Besides a crime", presented today in a press conference.
"Pets are often chosen with momentum, without an awareness of what it means to care for them. A scarcity of responsible ownership is causing the steady growth of cases of abandonment. The problem is ancient but in the last two years it has grown with the increase in people chosen to adopt them ", explains Manuela Michelazzi, ethologist.
With the #nellesuezampe campaign, Fnovi proposes a change of perspective, creating identification with the emotions of egyptian dogs, first portrayed in moments of happiness within the family, then when this everyday life is interrupted by abandonment.
"This moment - explains Carla Bernasconi, Fnovi councilor - is experienced by the animal as a nightmare, with the distressing loss of reference points. Ivideo ends with a happy ending: the pets wake up and realize that it was just a bad dream. Unfortunately However, it is therefore a reality, and not only in the summer. Thirty years of law against abandonment have not been successful. For this reason, we have focused on emotions ".
The purpose of the campaign, which will continue in collaboration with the Ministry of Health in the coming months, "is to help those who want to adopt an animal towards a more informed choice and educate those who already own a more responsible relationship, also focusing on young people and children", concludes Gaetano Penocchio , president of Fnovi.
From this point of view, the figure of the veterinarian becomes key "to support not only in the event of an emergency but also in prevention, helping to get in his paws".
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