In 1997, an Animal Protection Law was passed, authorising Animal Protection Society chapters to manage animal shelters, and appointing “animal catchers” to capture homeless animals. Legislative changes allowed municipalities to remove homeless animals without any need to build refuges, while the few municipalities with actual shelters – to generate revenue for taking animals in. Furthermore, private businesses began opening shelters with intent to provide services to many municipalities. Yet the current homeless animal protection system is viewed poorly. In 2013, the Supreme Chamber of Audit and Control issued another negative evaluation of municipal performance in the field of caring for homeless animals.
The Project purpose was to collect data concerning care for homeless animals in municipalities. Project results served as a foundation for the design of diagnoses and conclusions, as well as for specific legislative changes.
The Project involved the launch of a general access web-based database comprising information about how individual municipalities in Poland perform in terms of caring for homeless animals (number of animals, expenses, agreements signed). Results of criminal, civil, and administrative law cases were described. A Homeless Animal Issues Report was published, with a detailed account of malpractices identified, and legislative amendments suggested.
The Project involved three monitoring rounds of all Polish municipalities in terms of care for homeless animals. Data was also collected concerning the animal flow between shelters. All information was made public in a web database. Furthermore, 8 criminal cases against perpetrators of cruelty to animals were handled, as well as 11 civil cases to recognise municipal agreements with activity contractors as being in breach of the law, and 37 administrative and judiciary administrative proceedings to void or terminate animal shelter operation permits. Furthermore, 878 municipal council resolutions concerning homeless animal care programmes and issued in the years 2013-2015 were analysed in terms of their legal quality.
Project partners – Animal Protection Association, “Ekostraż” (“EcoGuard”) Animal Protection Association from Wrocław, and the Rzeszów Association for Animal Protection – engaged in the monitoring of selected municipalities.
Project beneficiaries included institutions responsible for the system of caring for homeless animals