Holiday Season: Pet Taxes Rise Dramatically

As early as the end of May, the animal protection organization Pfotenhilfe appealed to pet owners to look around for a temporary foster home for their pet in good time before the holiday season. But as soon as the holidays are getting closer, the inquiries to the Tierschutzhof Pfotenhilfe are already piling up - especially with regard to the donation of dogs.

Many irresponsible pet owners now want to get rid of their family members immediately and permanently. Because just before the holiday, they suddenly realize that keeping an animal involves a certain degree of responsibility and that this was not or not enough considered before the purchase. And for some, this responsibility is too much.

"With the increasing number of animal owners, the number of those who buy animals as a pure means to an end and thus unscrupulously 'dispose of' them again, like an old stuffed animal, is also increasing sharply," says Pfotenhilfe boss Johanna Stadler. “A development that we are watching with great concern because we are finding fewer and fewer real animal lovers who want to adopt animals in order to offer them a better future. It's a quandary, because the more rigorously we scrutinize places, the more likely people are to turn to dubious online sources who peddle cheap 'commodity' goods with virtually no control. Such animals often have massive life-long health problems if they survive the first few months at all. Even terribly poor, lifelong suffering individuals of tormented breeds illegally find their way into the living room at home!”

Hire a pet sitter or boarding kennel

Pfotenhilfe advises that before you buy an animal, you should think about whether it can go with you or who can take care of it when you go on holiday. In the case of dogs, you must definitely try to take them with you, otherwise there is always the possibility of hiring a pet sitter or an animal boarding house to look after them.

Seeing the donation to the animal shelter as the first logical step just because a vacation is imminent causes the animal rights activist to shake her head in horror. “From abandonment to euthanasia threats if we don't take the animal, we've seen it all. In the best case, the animals end up with us and we find a new, better home,” explains Stadler. Currently, however, there is already a freeze on admissions to the Pfotenhilfe, as the animal shelter has already reached its capacity limits due to the many inquiries.