09/15/16 The Chain Goes Into the Past
Fall public event "Adopting is Cool" invites Croatian citizens to responsibly care for dogs
- September 17, Zagreb's Ban Jelacic Square: information stalls, T-shirts with the adoption message, education about the harmful effects of the chain
The amendments to the Law on Animal Protection are on course, and one of the important updates is that the law prohibits keeping dogs constantly bound up! The new autumn public event "Adopting is Cool," organized by the Shelter for Abandoned Animals of the City of Zagreb "Dumovec" and the Office for Agriculture and Forestry in cooperation with Animal Friends association, will illustrate problems associated with keeping dogs chained up. The event will take place on Saturday, September 17, 2016, from 9 A.M. to 3 P.M. on Zagreb central square. At 10 A.M., mayor of Zagreb Milan Bandic will arrive.
Educational flyers, aimed at sensitizing the public about not leaving their pets on the chain, will be distributed at information stalls. There will be dogs from shelters looking for new homes as well. Visitors will be offered T-shirts with messages that promote adoption, instead of the purchase of animals.
Dogs are very social and gregarious beings, and they need to interact with people and other animals. Prolonged confinement to a chain or in a box leads to physical and psychological injuries and threatens their well-being. In fact, when otherwise friendly dogs are bound up, they become unhappy and anxious, which leads to the development of neuroses and often aggression. The chain on their neck leads to injuries and painfully grows into their skin. Dogs are sitting bait for biting insects and parasites, and there is always a high risk of getting wrapped with the chain, as well as suffocation, harassment or even attacks from other dogs and people.
Often, those dogs are not properly fed, and if the chain overturns a bowl of water, they could remain thirsty for hours with no good veterinary care or sun protection. Throughout winter they are in the snow and cold, left without shelter during the bad weather. It is common for them to sleep in their small, dirty place because their owners don’t clean on a regular basis.
Most important of all, because they are eager for attention and love, when their family ignores them and does not treat them as a family member, they become aggressive and dangerous to humans who surround them.
In 2015, the city of Zagreb issued a resolution which banned this way of keeping dogs, and these amendments to the Animal Protection prohibition of keeping constantly tethered dogs will be valid in all Croatia.
Animal Friends invites everyone to adopt dogs instead of buying them, keep them free of the chain and the box, and to treat them as a family member.