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door feministisch platform De Bovengrondse, Landelijk Netwerk Veilig Thuis, VICE Nederland
More pets, but fewer in pet shelters
The summer is usually the busiest time for the DOA pet shelter and boarding facility in Amsterdam. Unfortunately for DOA, this did not apply last summer. Since many more people were working from home during the pandemic, they also had much more time for their pets. Far fewer people went on holiday and so there was less demand for animal boarding facilities. The behaviour of animals that had been with their owners for a considerable time changed as well. Pets were starting to become a lot more affectionate. It was almost as if the animals could sense that something had changed in our country.
It also became more difficult for DOA to look after animals since it was no longer possible to visit someone’s home. This makes it harder to assess a particular situation. The pandemic also meant that there were limits on the number of visitors to DOA, which prevented people from visiting with the whole family to make an adoption appointment, for example. It also resulted in longer waiting times before people were able to adopt an animal.
During hard times, pets can be a real comfort to people and there was a huge increase in the demand for pets, Rob Vermeer of Dierenasiel (pet shelter) Amsterdam-Noord/Oostzaan told the Parool newspaper. Of course, it is great that we managed to find so many homes for our animals but we should have some serious reservations about these impulse acquisitions. A lot of people found their new companion on websites like Marktplaats and Vermeer is worried that many of them will end up returning their new pets to the animal shelter once the responsibilities of pet ownership become clear to them.
Would you like to support the DOA in these difficult times? You can donate via this link: https://www.doamsterdam.nl/word-donateur/
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