PET PARENTS who get a new fluffy friend from Fuengirola's local shelter will not have to pay for vaccines, microchips, sterilising or compulsory paperwork – even if they take them home months before these are due.
Public health councillor in the Costa del Sol town, Javier García Lara, says the aim is to get animals rehomed, promote adoption and reduce the number of pets abandoned due to unwanted litters.
Fuengirola's health councillor Javier García Lara with a pussycat and, below, with puppies, at the local shelter (both photos by town hall)
The local authority-funded sanctuary, the Parque Zoosanitario Municipal, has a no-kill policy in place and no strays taken in have been put to sleep other than on entirely humane grounds and as a last resort for over three years.
“Fuengirola is an animal-friendly town,” García Lara stresses.
“For this reason, and for a long time now, adopting a dog or a cat is free of charge for anyone registered as living in Fuengirola.
“Until now, the council has been paying costs for temporary foster homes [underage kittens and puppies who need bottle-feeding before they are old enough to be adopted], fitting microchips, processing necessary licences or other paperwork, and the initial, compulsory vaccines.
“Now, though, we've gone a step further and are paying for cats and dogs to be sterilised, so that adopting them comes at zero cost to residents.
“Our aim is to encourage the people of Fuengirola to give these animals another chance to find a loving home and a new life.”
In the case of kittens, they can be adopted from six weeks old, but are not normally ready for their mandatory jabs until they are at least 10 or 12 weeks old.
Females can be spayed from around six or seven months – they do not need to have a season first – and males can be neutered from about five months of age.
But if they are rehomed as babies, the new owners will face costs within the first four or five months or so, typically from about €30 to €75 for vaccines and a minimum of €75 for sterilising boys or €150 for girls.
This can put people off getting a pet, unless they are willing to adopt an older dog or cat who would already have been jabbed and sterilised at the shelter.
Another, more serious consequence of this initial outlay is that owners may defer, or not bother with, sterilising, leading to unplanned litters in female dogs and cats.
Even if the owners are animal-lovers and do not cruelly dump the litters, they may still be unable to keep them and have to take them to the local shelter.
In spring, shelters across Europe tend to be overwhelmed with newborn kittens and, where callous owners merely abandon them, they may be too young for weaning and have to be bottle-fed round the clock by foster carers, usually volunteers.
Agreeing to pay for sterilising, even months after taking a new pet home, helps to reduce abandonment and shelter overcrowding – as well as drastically improving quality of life for female cats and dogs, who are less likely to risk becoming pregnant when they are still very little themselves.
Last year, Fuengirola Parque Zoosanitario Municipal managed to rehome about 30 animals, but is aiming for a much higher figure – ideally, 100%.
García Lara says the town hall intends to run awareness campaigns and continue to raise the profile of the local shelter, helping to make it the first port of call for residents seeking furry family members.
