October 1, 2009
Twenty Years of Dedication to Animals
This month, HSI Italian Animal Advocate Lega Pro Animale (LPA) celebrated its 20th anniversary. Dr. Dorothea Friz, founder and director of the group, is as committed to animals as ever, and continues to work tirelessly on their behalf. In recognition of her dedication, HSI honored Dr. Friz with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2009 Animal Care Expo.
To mark the two-decade milestone, Dr. Friz organized an international conference to review the last 20 years and discuss plans for the future. Kelly O'Meara, HSI Director of Companion Animals, presented at the event on the importance of spay/neuter. Despite Italy's popularity as a vacation destination, the country suffers from a terrible street dog and cat overpopulation problem.
Clinic activities
The Lega Pro Animale clinic sterilizes on average 3,000 animals per year, at their facility and in the field. Their center offers free evaluation visits for stray animals and discounted services for pets brought in by the public. To spay an owned female dog costs only 120 Euros, versus the veterinary associations' going rate of 350 Euros! LPA uses the revenue from private clients to fuel their efforts to spay/neuter the stray animals in the area. Additionally, LPA has a spay/neuter mobile van that can go wherever it is needed. Recently, LPA also opened the doors of its new on-site education center for children. Dr. Friz has personally visited many classrooms to educate schoolchildren about animal welfare and caring for their pets.
Staying focused despite difficulties
Dr. Friz has focused on one core message over the years: spay/neuter. She has developed materials with statistics as proof of Italy's problem with street dogs and cat overpopulation and the effectiveness of spay/neuter for reducing this problem. She has reached out to government officials, local politicians, the veterinary association and other Italian animal welfare organizations to gain support for spay/neuter. Despite her efforts, she faces opposition at both the state and national levels. Spay/neuter mobile vehicles have been banned by the government and are opposed by the veterinary association, which fears a loss of "business" to them. Of course, the mobile vehicles reach mainly stray dogs and cats in poorer and rural communities, places that would otherwise not have access to veterinary care.
Change for the worse
In the past, Lega Pro Animale had a contract with the local government to pick up street dogs, spay/neuter them, and then return them to where they came from—a method which was succeeding. But now, the Italian government is insisting on mass sheltering as a means of stray dog control in conjunction with a new policy of "no euthanasia permitted." This means dogs are taken from the streets, put into communal shelters and kept there for the remainder of their lives.
In some cases, this method can work—but only when all incoming animals are sterilized, there is a high rate of adoption by the public, euthanasia is permitted when necessary and there is adequate space, with conditions that allow the animals a good quality of life. Unfortunately, none of this is true in Italy, so thousands of animals are sick, diseased, injured and malnourished and often living in overcrowded conditions for years on end. There are 200-300 dogs crammed together in some of these kennels, suffering every day under the government's new policies.
In the Campania region (where Lega Pro Animale has its center in Southern Italy) alone, the number of dogs living in shelters increased from 10,000 in 2007 to 26,000 in 2008. The Campania government paid approximately 20 million Euros to house those 26,000 dogs; in total, the Italian government spends nearly 600 million Euros each year for all dogs in Italian shelters. As well-intended as this system may have been, it is not only ineffective, but incredibly inhumane. The massive amount of funding now being directed to these shelters should be put toward a real solution to the animal overpopulation problem: spay/neuter.
Fighting steadfastly onward
Amazingly, Dr. Friz is continuing her personal battle to promote spay/neuter and prevent the suffering of future litters of puppies. In the last 20 years, she has managed to bring this issue to the forefront of Italian political discussion. She is one voice making a tremendous difference for dogs and cats and the future of animal welfare in Italy.
Still, it helps to see small glimpses of hope that spay/neuter will prevail. While all of these new policies have left dogs in a bad situation in Italy, the issue of cats has been left alone. So, Dr. Friz has focused her attention in the last few years on spay/neuter of every cat she sees in her region.
This year, for the first time ever, Dr. Friz has received calls from people looking to adopt kittens. And for the first time ever, she doesn't have any to offer.