You have to be aware of the fact that you are adopting a living being that has its own needs, as well as its own legal rights. What this means is that keeping a dog chained is out of the question and that you must adequately feed the animal, as well as commit to providing it with veterinary care at your own cost for the rest of its life. In addition to health care, veterinary care includes tagging the animal with a microchip, regular vaccination, as well as castration once the adopted animal has reached sexual maturity (that is, if the animal has not been microchipped and castrated prior to adoption).

All of the above is stated in our adoption contract, which you will be asked to sign. That way, you are committing to taking good care of the adopted animal, while we can be a little more at ease, as it is less likely that the animal will be badly treated or that it will eventually end up on the street again.

This is also the reason why we do home checks prior to adoptions and reserve the right to check the animal’s living conditions once again after the adoption has taken place. The process may sound excessive, but we are faced with all sorts of things on a daily basis, so trust us when we say that the home checks really are necessary and, at the end of the day, desirable for the well-being of your new pet. In short, if you are a responsible animal foster parent, there should be no problems.

We are only trying to eliminate those who may have the best intentions, but who, realistically, do not know how to take good care of pets. This is why we do not let hunters adopt dogs – it is often the case that malnourished or poorly cared for dogs that we collect from the streets used to belong precisely to hunters – and we also do not like giving puppies and kittens to those who want to surprise their grandchildren at Christmas, as these cases tend to end badly as well. If you are considering adopting a pet, you have to be aware that taking care of a dog or cat can be quite expensive, especially when it comes to large dogs that need a lot of food. You should also keep in mind that it is always possible for your pet to get sick and veterinary expenses are no small thing. From the moment you adopt an animal, it becomes your responsibility, both in terms of care and finances. Therefore, you should make an objective assessment of whether or not you are ready to take all of that on.

In addition to having the financial means necessary to cover veterinary and food costs, you must be able to provide your new pet with proper living conditions. Every responsible dog owner knows how important walks and socializing are to a dog. Therefore, if you spend most of your days working and do not have the time to socialize with a dog, instead of adopting right now, wait for a better moment when you might have more time to take good care of a pet. Dogs get frustrated if they are cooped up in a house or an apartment all day and sometimes even a yard is not enough to occupy them. A dog that spends a lot of time alone in the yard with no one paying attention to it often shows its frustration by constantly barking at passers-by. What the dog really wants is for you to spend time with it–being in the yard is not the same as going for a walk!

Also, keep in mind that different breeds have different needs. It is not advisable for older people to adopt very active breeds or extra-large dogs that they will not be able to physically control.

Cats have somewhat different needs and they often like exploring their surroundings on their own. However, if you intend to let your cat out of the house, as is often the practice in Dalmatia, where the climate is mild, keep in mind that the cat may face many dangers. If you live near a busy road, the consequences could be fatal. Furthermore, we cannot emphasize enough the importance of castrating both female and male cats – while you yourself might not have to deal with the consequences of your male cat wandering around the neighbourhood, your neighbours and organizations such as ours might.

All in all, we urge you to think carefully before making the decision to adopt, because what we want more than anything is for all the adopted animals to be settled comfortably in their new homes and to happily stay there for the rest of their lives.

Finally, when you are choosing a dog or cat you want to adopt, we encourage you to give the less attractive, injured, older, and disabled animals a chance as well. They deserve their forever homes too!

Here are some more useful articles to help you prepare for the process of adopting an animal:

How to best prepare for adopting a puppy or an adult dog

How to best prepare for adopting a kitten or an adult cat

Unneutered human-owned pets can be in heat and mate, just like strays. Owners usually do not take responsibility for their pets’ offspring and get rid of kittens and puppies in horrible ways, without realizing that the solution to their problem lies in a couple of hundred kunas and a routine veterinary procedure.

Others let the little ones grow a bit and then give them away, through ads or by word of mouth. Although they did not kill them or throw them onto the street, such owners are no less irresponsible: every kitten and puppy they give away is taking away a potential home from an animal that has been saved from the street by volunteers – one that was previously abandoned or that was part of a litter of strays with no owner. These kinds of owners usually give the young ones away with no questions asked and no criteria set, to the first person who expresses interest, just “to get rid of them,” without considering the conditions they will be living in. They do not care if their future home is in a yard, a shed, or a house; if they are going to be living right next to a road, if they will be provided with veterinary care and be castrated... It is not uncommon for such kittens and puppies to be run over by cars, die of illness, or, if they are “lucky,” live long enough to continue reproducing and, in turn, create new offspring to be killed, thrown away, or to take up the homes that could have belonged to strays.

Let’s not forget the many unneutered human-owned tomcats that wander the streets – especially in Dalmatia, where it is widely considered that cats are in fact street animals – and mate with stray cats, which, in addition to exposing them to sexually transmitted diseases and incurable illnesses, contributes to the growing population of neglected stray cats.

Cat and dog owners!

On behalf of all those who will be born on the street or thrown into the garbage, we ask you: sterilize your pets! By doing so, you are directly contributing to rescuing stray kittens and puppies, as there are more foster homes left for them.

If, on the other hand, you did not sterilize your pet in time and it had a litter of young ones: give them away responsibly! Find them good homes, where they will get adequate veterinary care and, most importantly, where they will be castrated once they reach sexual maturity. Spay the mother cat/dog as soon as the young ones turn two months.

Think of the thousands of others who do not have the opportunity to be saved and who are going to die in the street because there are not enough homes for everyone…

People looking to adopt!

Adopt cats and dogs rescued from the street. By doing so, you are saving two lives at the same time: the life of the animal you are adopting and the life of the next stray animal that takes its place in the care of our organization or individuals. By adopting kittens/puppies from a home litter, you are supporting the misconception that “it is easy to find foster homes for kittens/puppies (especially if they are attractive), so there is no need for sterilization.”

If you want a kitten/puppy of a particular breed and there isn’t one available to adopt, we beg you: do not buy it through a suspicious ad for a couple of hundred kunas. The people posting these kinds of ads are “manufacturers” that keep purebred or mixed breed animals, have them mate constantly, and torture them by making them have several litters a year in order to make a profit. By buying purebred cats/dogs without papers, you are contributing to the suffering of the animals that are in the hands of such creatures, but also of their offspring that are often weak, full of parasites, sick, unsocialized, and that are growing up in inappropriate living conditions.

If you want a particular breed, buy it from a verified and registered breeder: this kind of cat/dog has to have a birth certificate and vaccination booklet and it will not be going to a new home before turning three months old.

In conclusion

Yes, every cat and every dog needs a home. Those rescued from the streets, the ones from home litters, those “manufactured” in bulk, and the purebred ones. However, keep in mind that your choices have a direct impact on the market and the supply and demand ratio. If it becomes hard to sell the kittens and puppies “manufactured” in bulk, there will be fewer “manufacturers;” if more people choose to adopt rescue animals instead of those from home litters, there will be fewer unneutered human-owned pets.

Your choices really can make a change, so choose wisely...

The Animal Protection Act (NN 102/17, 32/19 in force since01/04/2019) contains certain regulations concerning pets. Under the title “Protection of Pet Animals,” part six of the Act(Art. 51) prescribes as follows:

(1) Pet animals must be ensured keeping conditions in line with their needs.

(2) It is prohibited to keep and handle a pet animal in a manner that poses a risk to the health and safety of other animals and people, in particular children and animals.

(3) The movement of pet animals in a manner that poses a risk to the health and safety of other animals and people is prohibited.

(4) It is prohibited to keep dogs constantly tethered or to keep them in separate dog-keeping areas without enabling them to move freely outside of those areas.

(5) The conditions and manner of keeping pet animals from paragraphs 1, 3, and 4 of this Article are prescribed in the general acts of representative bodies of local self-government units.

The Act also touches on the control of pet breeding (Art. 52 of the same Act). The following is prescribed on this subject:

(1) The owners of pet animals must ensure controlled reproduction of animals that are under their control.

(2) The owners from paragraph 1 of this Article must provide care for the offspring of their own pet animals.

(3) If the owners of pet animals do not want to provide care for the offspring of their pet animals, they shall bear the costs of their care, and in the case of dogs, the costs of their permanent sterilization.

(4) If the owners of pet animals do not provide care for the offspring of their pet animals, a veterinary inspector, upon determining the abandonment of the offspring of their pet animals, may impose a measure of permanent sterilization of the pet animal, at the expense of the owner.

The full text of the Animal Protection Act can be found here.

Original article by: Prava šapa

If the animal’s life is not in imminent danger, call the municipal monitor responsible for the area where you are located. If problems arise, you can contact the veterinary inspection service in Šibenik on 022 488 278 during office hours, every day except on weekends. They will provide you with information on further procedure.

Under the title “Protection of Abandoned and Lost Animals,” part nine (Art. 62) of the Animal Protection Act (NN 102/17, 32/19 in force since 01/04/2019) prescribes the following:

(1) The tasks of collecting abandoned or lost animals are organised and financed by the local self-government units.

(2) At least one shelter must be established in the territory of each regional self-government unit, with a minimum capacity for 50 animals.

(3) All local self-government units are obliged to participate in the financing of the establishment and operation of the shelter from paragraph 2 of this Article.

(4) A local self-government unit may conclude a contract on the collection and care of abandoned or lost animals with a shelter established by the person from Article 61, paragraph 1 of this Act, which is situated within the territory of the regional self-government unit including the local self-government unit.

(5) The manner of handling abandoned or lost animals is prescribed by general acts of the representative bodies of the local self-government unit.

(6) Local self-government units may prescribe permanent sterilization as a compulsory manner of reproduction control.

Wondering why we sometimes resist putting animals that have been found into the local self-government shelters mentioned above (in the case of Šibenik, into As Eko)?

The mentioned shelter houses a very large number of dogs that are all kept together, in caged areas where the rule of the strongest sometimes prevails. Weak and injured dogs sometimes do not fare well in that environment and it is easy for puppies to pick up a disease. This is why we try to keep those vulnerable groups out of shelters and instead try to find them a temporary foster home where they can receive intensive care and socialization until they find their forever homes.

IF YOU FIND AN INJURED ANIMAL:

Help the animal or make sure that it gets help. Call the municipal monitor responsible for the area where you are located. If problems arise, you can contact the veterinary inspection service in Šibenik on 022 488 278 during office hours, every day except on weekends. They will provide you with information on further procedure.

Under the title “Fundamental Provisions on Animal Protection,” part two (Art. 7) of the Animal Protection Act (NN 102/17, 32/19 in force since 01/04/2019) prescribes an obligation to provide assistance to animals:

(1) Any person who injures an animal must render the necessary assistance to the animal, and if they are unable to assist, must arrange for assistance to be provided.

(2) If it is not possible to determine who injured the animal, the provision of the necessary assistance to the animal must be organised and financed by the local self-government unit in whose territory the animal was injured.

(3) If the owner of the injured animal is ascertained, the costs from paragraph 2 of this Article shall be borne by the owner.

IF YOU WITNESS ANIMAL ABUSE:

If you witness an animal being neglected and kept in bad conditions on someone else’s property (i.e. in the case of human-owned animals), you cannot act alone in order to save it. Call the municipal monitor responsible for the area where you are located. If the animal’s life is in imminent danger, call the police - 112 or 192. Don't wait, make the call right away and report the owner anonymously! Under the new Animal Protection Act passed on 1 April 2019, municipal monitors will take over the control of the keeping conditions of dogs, which means it will not be allowed for dogs to be kept in caged areas or on a chain for extended periods of time without the ability to move freely. The full text of the Act can be read here.

If you witness similar treatment of animals (i.e. harassment, abuse, beating, killing, inadequate keeping conditions) in a public place, you should also contact the police. Animal abuse, torture, and neglect are considered acriminal offence. The law is very clear on that and it is covered in Article 205 of the Penal Code (NN 125/11, 144/12, 56/15, 61/15, 101/17, 118/18 in force since 01/04/2019), which prescribes the criminal offence of “killing or torturing animals.”

The aforementioned Article clearly states:

(1) Whoever kills an animal without justifiable cause or severely abuses it, inflicts unnecessary pain on it, or exposes it to unnecessary suffering, will be punished by imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year.

(2) Whoever commits the criminal offense referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article out of self-interest will be punished by imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years.

(3) Whoever withholds food or water from an animal out of negligence or otherwise exposes it to distress for an extended period of time will be punished by imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months.

(4) The animal referred to in this Article will be taken away.

It should also be noted that police officers are required to respond to every report of abuse, torture, or another kind of ill-treatment of animals given by citizens, as well as to determine all of the relevant facts necessary for filing a misdemeanor or criminal complaint. Citizens can report these kinds of cases by calling 112 or 192 or directly through MOL’s app MOL - Safety and Trust.