I would like at this place to thank those numerous Austrian animal rights organizations and individuals who are involved in rehoming of Slovak stray dogs and financially support shelters and spay/neuter programs. This help has been vital for decades and very appreciated.
To extend on this OT deviation: while I acknowledge the importance of animal welfare both privately and professionally, I've a slightly different stand on this. The work of said Austrian and German activists has its positive aspects in many cases. However, the increasing import of "rescued" dogs and cats from Eastern and Southeastern Europe (as well as Spain, Portugal, Greece, Turkey etc.) to Western and Central Europe isn't without its drawbacks. Which includes, among others, profiteering, corruption, animal welfare violations, spread of diseases, forging and (cyber) bullying, to the point that more and more practical and federal veterinarians in Austria, Germany, Switzerland etc. are becoming wary when dealing with these animals and some organizations / people connected to this trend.
I do know about these issues. Czechia imports its fair share of rescues from these mentioned countries. I think the most appalling trend is masking an illegal and cruel cub/kitten farm industry behind nice "rescue" facade. But simple ignorance (of disease like heartworms for example) is not foreign to a lot of people among the well meaning honest crowd. This all doesn´t change the truth that shelters in central and eastern parts of Slovakia are still unable to survive without foreign help and funding. They need to export dogs towards Austria and Czechia because stream of unwanted rural dogs, many originating from Roma settlements, is far greater than what can be placed in local households. Honest and hard working Austrian groups play pivotal role in ensuring their welfare today and should be thanked. Situation is actually gradually improving in Slovakia, attitudes around responsible pet ownership are changing albeit slowly. In a decade or two, who knows, their shelters might get half-empty. And they will in turn start importing rescue dogs from Balkan/Ukraine/Spain. The full circle.
They do, but you're still more likely to see (a greater variety of) purebred dogs on the streets of (urban) Czechia than in Austria and Germany, where the seemingly majority of dogs are said exported "rescues", overpriced mutts sold as "designer dog breeds" to the gullible and a few over-popular breeds such as the French bulldog. Maybe a federal / international neutering program might be the more effective option on the long run? Roma (and others) are not stupid when it comes to exploiting a business option in their favor. Which reminds me of the British / Indian - snake breeding story: Love Snake - Scandinavia and the World At the moment, West Europeans (but from what I've heard, also Americans and Canadians) can't get enough dogs and cats. However, will this trend continue when the home office season is over, you're allowed to travel abroad again and the negative economic effects of the pandemic will be felt by more and more people? Or will there be plenty of local animal welfare issues to take care of? There are already first signs of German federal institutions contemplating about how to limit the import of said rescues... (Bundestierärzteblatt (2) 2021).
It’s much worse in the US which activists succeeded with banning the sale of farm (or “mill” if that’s how you want to call it) bred dogs in one state (California unsurprisingly) and are importing meat dogs from East Asia which are far more diseased and less socialized for companionship.
@PossumRoach I was genuinely surprised when I found out how heavily some of the Amish are involved in the puppy mill business. Lots of big molossoid dogs among those meat dogs, I presume. Not necessarily the best dogs for most people...
Slovakia has two main sources of rescue dogs. Unwanted ex-pets (or ex-farm-watchdogs) who are left behind by their owners. This issue has been tackled by compulsory registration and chipping of all dogs since late 2019. Complience is still weaker in poorer districts but vets and municipalities push it hard, in a decade or so you won´t find any unidentified dog left (outside Roma ghettos). Second source is unchecked breeding in Roma ghettos and this can´t be fully solved without solving the very existence of Roma slums (i highly doubt in within my lifetime). Some volunteer-run dog neutering programs exist, financed by Slovak, Czech and Austrian animal rights activists. But they need trust and consent of the Roma owners to even enter these places, and much larger scale and financial backing to ever make a dent into the problem. This trend is again same in Czechia. Prices of purebred dogs and cats more than doubled since covid19 started. Local vets cant catch up and estimate pet ownership increased by at least 10% since spring. Shelters are almost empty, Prague municipality shelter has 11 dogs and exactly zero adoptable cats left today. But I don´t agree with your worry this trend will reverse any time soon, people already bonded with their furies. Pet shop sales are up 20% with no sigh of ebb. In case Germany will ban import of said rescues, this will indeed impact many shelters in affected countries, after export to the UK (another big recipient) became harder due to Brexit. @PossumRoach I though Mexico is by far the main country of origin of rescues imported into the US? And I would not worry so much about "meat trade dogs". Most rescue dogs from China and Korea seem to be ex-pet dogs of recognizable breeds, often labs. Label of "rescued from meat trade" is just a PR gimmick in my opinion. (BTW I have seen some Austrians using similar tactic, advertising Slovak dogs like "rescued last minute from 60-days row of a kill-shelter" without mentioning Slovak shelters are zero-kill in reality, but if it helps them to place dogs in good families, small lie hurts nobody.)
I do wonder if shelters in the UK will begin to fill up again when restrictions are finally lifted and people have more freedom again. What % of the 'covid dogs' that were obtained during the lockdowns, will still fit into their owners lives as they revert to more how they lived previously, or they cannot maintain the cost of the new pet longterm...
Same as in other gypsy communities elsewhere. Let's see what is going to make the race in the long run - modern animal welfare standards or appeasing the cultural underdevelopment of certain ethnic groups. Same as with dogs from other countries. Viciously plucking at the naive animal lovers' heartstrings, I daresay.
That's actually the very point I've raised above in regard to Central and Western Europe. The local animal shelter stakeholders are expecting the worst...
They won't; there's too much money and too many emotions involved. And the German politicians don't want to annoy the many naive, yet emotionally easily agitated, animal "lovers" among their voters. The veterinary community currently suggests stricter controls.
@Jana : another recent example Wir wollen einen Hund! Auslandstierschutz? Illegaler Welpenhandel? Oder eine Kombination aus beidem? - Ulm / Neu-Ulm - Kleintierpraxis Ralph Rückert
Seeing your new cub dying of parvo is heartbreaking. It´s even bigger problem in cat rescue and unfortunately kitten mortality due to parvo is nightmare of everyone because of how common and drastic it is, how easy it spreads, how expesive the treatment is, how severe damage many animals get even if they survive. And when the whole shelter is closed due to parvo quarantine and you have to turn away people who want to place somwhere ill kittens they just found and you can´t help them... The article doesn´t mention the name of the rescue organisation or original shelter in Romania, I can´t comment on it. Just few rumblings in general. It´s hard to tell exact age of dogs or cats who get rescued from the street. Due to malnutrition, illnesses and harsh environment, even teeth don´t offer guidance in many cases. I would expect vet to estimate cub/kitten age with some accurance, but... The question of vets should be also taken into account. All industries have its black sheep, zoos, rescue organizations, veterinary care. We now have a case here in Czechia of a rural vet clinic that is ran by a person who uses the title veterinary doctor in front of customers, he does surgeries in person etc. But after a series of complains about bad care and botched surgeries, after years he is in industry, it turns out he did study cynology and has few semesters of human medicine, but never studied at veterinary university/school. I expect the vet care, standards and number of depps gets progresively worse the more east you go in Europe. Animal rescue costs money which is very tight in the East and vet expenses make the biggest part (far bigger than food), no wonder people often use the cheapest vet around. Ownership of street animals differs by country and its laws. An example - in Czechia, all found domestic animals must be safequarded for 4 months by municipality so that real owner has time to reclaim the animal. After 4 months, the animal becomes ownership of the municipality who can decide what to do with it (sell, donate etc). That is the national law. In reality, municipalities foten don´t have money and interest to care about found animals. Some have their dog shelters, some will place dogs in private shelters and pay some money for their care. Cats interest nobody usually. However, shelters dont have money (and heart) to keep animals 4 months in. So in reality, all shelters start adoptions just after quarantine time is over (10-14 days for dogs, 3 weeks for cats). But they sign a contract with the adopter that animal is only in temporary care and within 4 months, if original owner shows up, they must return the animal. It happens extremely rare, everybody treats it just like a formality, to obey the law. A recent fad in private shelters and rescues in Czechia is to put a clausule in an adoption contract stating the animal must be castrated in adulthood and it can´t be sold or donated to third person, it must be returned to the shelter. But such contract is actually not valid in front of the court, after 4 months the adopter is a valid owner and can do with its animal what it wants. if there would be lawsuit, shelter would lose it. But again, most people who adopt animals are solid and heed such contract. All these sentences were not written to exonerate the rescue group in case they really did wrong with uterior motives. It should just bring some nuances into the case. And we should not forget the new owners themselves. Most people who adopt strays are good people, but also balck sheep exist among them. Sometimes they are cheap and don´t want to invest into their animal, will adopt from a group based solely on who requests the lowest adoption fee to get their puppy or preffered race, they don´t inform themselves with who they deal with, don´t refuse even if there are clear hints it´s not a honest rescue but just a puppy mill masquaraded as a rescue. And when such puppy gets ill, they will cry murder even if they are just victims of their own greed. At the end of the day, the east and south of Europe has a surplus of unwanted street dogs while center/west/north has a great demand for pets. It is natural that it results in a flow of animals. The question is how to manage it a better way for both the animals, people and animal health safety. In the US, transport of shelter dogs from southern states to the affluent north equals around 500.000 dogs and cats a year and it doesn´t produce such issues, I do ask what they do better than us in Europe. (Disclaimer: I am not impartial. I am involved in stray cat rescue, helping a rural shelter with ads and adoptions locally - we don´t adopt abroad.)
... due to ongoing investigations by the relevant authorities. Some are; some might mean well, but are both practically and / or financially unable to take proper care of an animal. And some misuse these animals to avail by them, to make a public mark as woke animal lovers or to camouflage their misanthrophy and lack in character. Given how the veterinary industry is currently changing, vet expenses are more likely to increase. Some of the biggest financial issues, especially in regard to larger international animal welfare organizations (just as in human right organizations), cannot be blamed on vets doing their job, but can rather be contributed to the high wages of their management and internal corruption (which is the target of current investigations regarding the main animal shelters in Hamburg and Salzburg).
That sounds like a luxury problem, from whole another world. I´m more used to small cat shelters and foster care, 100% run by volunteers where money is always tight and 80% of annual budget spent on vet care.
I do think that corruption and fraud are a problem, not a "luxury", especially when they allow the perpetuators to dwell in luxury. And these issues are not otherworldly, but just at least as much a part of animal welfare organizations as black sheep, both figuratively and literally, are an aspect of the veterinary profession.
Interesting news. The US is another country that effectively bans import of rescue dogs from 3rd world countries. Maybe, instead of ban, they should have implemented rabies titre test at point of entry, the same the EU currently has for selected high-risk countries. One surprising detail is that the US has not managed to eradicate endemic rabies from its own wild mammals yet, unlike the EU (minus bats). Rabid dog imported into southeastern Pa. sparks multi-state investigation A rabid dog imported into the United States this month has sparked a public health investigation across several states. Health officials say a dog brought to the U.S. from Azerbaijan that ended up with a family in Chester County, Pennsylvania began acting strangely. It later tested positive for rabies and was euthanized. At least 12 people were exposed to the animal. The dog was one of 34 animals — 33 dogs and one cat — imported by an animal rescue organization from Azerbaijan to O’Hare International Airport in Chicago on June 10. The animals were not in the main cabin of the plane or main terminal of the airport. Travelers through O’Hare are not considered to be at risk, but health officials are checking to see if other animals in the shipment are infected and are still tracking down the pets’ new owners. Rabies no longer regularly spreads among dogs in the U.S., but imported animals are considered a risk for new outbreaks. Federal agencies are working with health officials in Pennsylvania, Illinois, Indiana, New Jersey, and New York on the investigation. The incident marks the fourth rabid dog imported into the U.S. since 2015. The three previous were rescue dogs that arrived with rabies vaccination certificates that were later found to be fraudulent. This week, the CDC announced that starting July 14 it will impose a year-long ban on dogs from more than 100 countries — including Azerbaijan — where rabies is still a problem. The ban is being imposed because of a spike in the number of puppies denied entry because they weren’t old enough to be fully vaccinated. LINK to original article
Redundant question, don´t you think? Why don´t people always adopt a stray from a shelter that is the nearest to them or buy puppy from nearest breeder? Because they fall in love with one that lives far away. Why do people travel for holiday to Maledives when they could spend it in a cottage nearby? Why don´t people marry with a boy/girl from the same village anymore? Why do people buy American or Japanese cars? Why are vet drugs imported from South Africa and rum from Cuba? Globalisation. Apparently, strong demand for imported strays exists within the US. If they won´t come from one country they will come from elsewhere. Good news for Mexican or Romanian strays I guess.
On the contrary - I think this case exemplifies why this question needs to be asked. All your global whataboutisms aside: "falling in love" with a pariah dog does not necessitate its import from the other side of the world. And even more so doesn't it justify the exposure of a dozen people to one of the most lethal zoonotic diseases known to man... I do wonder whether arrogance, greed, ignorance, short-sightedness, foolishness, incompetence, ideology or a dangerous mix of all can be blamed for this royal mess-up. It's not the first of its kind, and unfortunately, probably not the last..
