animal shelter
An animal shelter is an institution that mainly takes in pets without owners for reasons of animal welfare , cares for them and, if possible, places them with new owners. The sponsorship of animal shelters is mostly communal or non-profit , although there are also private-sector organizations of animal protection associations .
tasks and goals
Animal shelters are primarily used to house homeless pets and farm animals and to pass them on to private individuals in the short to medium term. In recent decades, due to increasing urbanization , they have repeatedly taken in young animals from the local wild animal population that have been found by walkers, some of which are mistakenly believed to have been abandoned by the mother animals (e.g. fawns ). This puts additional strain on the already tight financial and spatial capacities. There are also animals with abnormal behavior, especially dogs that were originally brought from abroad to protect them from the living conditions there.
According to their own requirements, animal shelters should inform the population in order to avoid animal cruelty and to convey the beneficial function of wild animals.
The largest umbrella organization in Germany is the German Animal Welfare Association , which represents around 740 animal welfare associations with around 550 animal shelters.
Others
Sometimes other terms such as animal shelter and reception center are also used synonymously.
literature
- Karin Burfeindt: Veterinary recommendations for the accommodation of pet birds in animal shelters . Dissertation at the University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover , 2001.
- Bodo Busch: The animal shelter guide , management and appropriate keeping [With 8 tables, and a foreword by Thomas Blaha]. Schattauer, Stuttgart 2010, ISBN 978-3-7945-2689-5 .
- German Animal Welfare Association: The Animal Welfare Handbook. Practical guide for animal welfare associations and animal shelters in the German Animal Welfare Association. V. 3rd edition, Deutscher Tierschutzbund , Bonn 2011, ISBN 978-3-924237-14-1 .
- Helmut Langer, Irma Schüle, Herbert Hampe (illustrations); State Animal Protection Association of Baden-Württemberg, North Rhine-Westphalia in the German Animal Welfare Association V. (Ed.): The animal shelter , construction - facility - operation. Kesselring, Emmendingen 1985, ISBN 3-922282-85-7 .
- Sample animal shelter regulations and other information sheets. (PDF) Veterinary Association for Animal Welfare eV
