1636 Dogs in Puglia!!

Does anyone else find the 'dog' problem in Puglia difficult to take? There are stray dogs everywhere. Wouldn't it be great if a dog-loving, (well-off!) person came here to take in all the strays, have them sterilized, find homes for them and do a bit (actually quite a lot) of education about animals? I find it so difficult to ignore tiny puppies that hang around the big bidoni looking for scraps in amongst all the rubbish. Nearly everyone I know here has taken in strays but there's limit! By the way, anyone like to take in a lovely black and white 7-8 week old female puppy? Told you I was a sucker!!

Category
General chat about Italy

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 10/19/2005 - 05:08

...sorry to say this is not apuglian problem its the whole of italy.... have posted on this in the scaremonegering debate...george also had a comment to make...but here is a somewaht relevant link... if you have an interest in what goes on here not only on the street for all of us to see ...but off

[url]http://forum2.panorama.it/WebX?230@@.2cec985c[/url]

...however there are laws ...all strays are sterilised and microchipped by law.... all owners now have to have their dogs microchipped...your local commune is responsable for the welfare of stray animals....it is also now illegal to maltereat any domestic animal and if you see someone doing so then you can report them ...there are prison sentences attached to this crime as well as fines....

so as not to paint a completely black picture we also have a connection with the local dog pound run by the commune in teramo.... like all rescue centres it is slightly overcrowded...but having visited several in england i found this one as pleasant as ( wrong word) as any sad palce can be.... full of dogs but unlike in england not in small cages but in various quite large compounds...all looked healthy and fit... a lot of barking greets you but they soon settle down.... and tails start wagging...dogs being social pack animals seem to be quite happy living like this ...

so no you cannot adopt all of them but you can volunteer to help with looking after them and report anyone that is being cruel to them... incidentally they also ran a weekend awareness program in the centre of teramo ...to try and get some adoptions but also to show people here that dogs are friends and will treat you well if you treart them well...

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 10/20/2005 - 06:10

Yes, I do find it difficult and have said if only I had loads of money i would retire over there and try to look after them all! What I did notice about the strays in that area is, I never really saw any looking really staved but then I only visit and am not living there.

Thanks Adriatica for the further info, I didn't realise there are laws in place to try to improve the situation but old attitudes remain I think.

Apart from all doing our little bit I'm not sure what else can be done.