“We are witnessing an exponential increase in the number of abandonments. This is an exponentially growing phenomenon that does not only concern the summer periods.” Patrizia Giaquinto, director of the health shelter in Bari, doesn’t beat around the bush. Her words leave nothing to chance: “We are in an emergency – she says – The abandonments are increasing more and more every day. We have had terrible months like October and February which cannot be traced back to the heat.” And therefore to the owners’ desire for a holiday. “There is indeed an extremely superficial attitude among citizens, supported by the lack of controls”.
Giaquinto then underlines the need to put a stop to what now seems to have become an increasingly common practice. The problem becomes even more complex when you consider that not all types of abandonment are considered as such by Italian law. “No one does anything to repress the phenomenon – he clarifies – Only in Bari do we witness on average more than one abandonment per day, considering the documented phenomenon (therefore the dogs that enter the kennel)”. Then there is the hidden economy. “We are not talking – adds the director of the kennel – about the province and the entire region”.
In Puglia there is a “boom in pet animals, especially dogs and cats”, which number around 700 thousand in total, but the region is also affected “by the phenomenon of animal abandonment, with a 20% increase in summer 2023”, explains Coldiretti Puglia, commenting on the data from the Pet Animal Registry of the Ministry of Health, according to which in Puglia there are 626,204 dogs, 74,627 cats and 25 ferrets registered.
“More than one in three Apulian families (40%) – continues Coldiretti – hosts pets, a higher figure than the national figure which stops at 33%”, with “62% of those who host pets spending between thirty and one hundred euros per month”. The data also shows that “only 19% spend less than thirty euros per month, while – says Coldiretti – 15% of those who have an animal dedicate a budget ranging from one hundred to more than 300 euros per month. And there is also a 4% that pays out more than 300 euros, a percentage that has practically tripled compared to the previous year”.
The other side of the coin, however, is “the criminal business linked to the black market which, between clandestine breeding in Italy and illegal arrivals from abroad, involves over 400 thousand puppies for a turnover of 300 million euros per year”.
