PORTUGAL - Loving the unloved
A friendly young dog keeps sticking its paw through its metal enclosure to touch a human visitor. Nearby, others are barking for attention. They’re at the Bianca Association (Associação Bianca) in Sesimbre, just south of Lisbon.
The facility is basic, but the dogs have plenty of space and fresh air in the outdoor setting, dominated by a massive tree. It’s a contrast to the conditions in other places, including richer countries like Singapore.
The dogs all stir when the group’s head, Ana Duarte, walks by. She has a full-time job working for the government in the cultural sector, but every other waking hour is spent at the shelter (see video profile).
The shelter currently has 350 dogs and 50 cats, and 40 new animals arrive, on average, each month. In Portugal, an estimated 10,000 animals are abandoned each year, so the supply seems never-ending.
Today has been an adoption success: “Four animals went to Germany and none arrived, so it’s a good thing,” says Ana. A young Irish couple living in Lisbon arrives to collect Mimi, a small and affectionate older dog missing fur on its back because of an early infection. It’s sometimes the least likely animals that get a new chance, but it’s no coincidence that the animals usually end up overseas.
“People in Portugal think dogs are useful to be in a garden on a chain, to guard the house,” says Ana. “They don’t think these animals need to be well-fed, need care, love, to see the vet. This is a thing, not a being. Most people in Portugal think a dog is a thing to use. They are not a companion animal that needs to be well-treated, a sensitive being.”
Tales of cruelty abound. Ana offers to show a photo on her phone of a dog found decapitated by the roadside. Several dogs at the shelter have scars on their necks from where owners have hacked out their microchips before abandoning them.
Ana Duarte and Dolly
Vica is one of the dogs at the shelter
Legal Changes
The overall legal situation changed three years ago, when abuse and abandonment were criminalised. Then in 2018, a law was passed stopping state-run shelters killing animals to reduce overcrowding. The previous figure had been many thousands euthanized each year. And within the past few months local authorities are supposed to have stopped killing stray dogs.
But the catch is enforcement. Abuse cases require a witness to testify, and people are often afraid to go up against their neighbours. Ana isn’t. She regularly lodges complaints, and is involved in a current dispute that has her somewhat worried. She is looking after a small dog taken two weeks ago from a man who tried to remove a tumour by himself and nearly killed the animal. Ana says he is a suspected paedophile and arsonist, and there is also speculation that he sexually abused the dog.
“He’s a criminal. He already jumped inside Bianca and hurt my worker. He came to take the dog, so I called the police. It’s not easy because I’m really afraid he’ll come here at night and light a fire. But I cannot let him do this to the dog. I don’t want to give this dog back.”
Back in the compound, cleaning and feeding is underway, and some dogs are being taken for walks. One of the volunteer dog walkers is Karine Joos, a legal secretary from Belgium, “so this is quite different!” she says. Karine comes several times a year to help out, saying she prefers this shelter to others. “The people who work here love dogs.”
Foreign volunteers and donors are a big component of the charity’s success. Bianca is one of the very few shelters to run an English-language version of its website, and is always on the lookout for volunteers, sponsorship and donations. That is not surprising, considering monthly running costs of up to 9,000 euros (£7,700).
Somehow, the animal lovers manage. They’ve just built a new cattery, which has a sun lounge and raised platforms for the cats to explore. It’s nicer accommodation than anything we have seen at shelters in Newcastle and Asia.
For the future, Ana wants to change social attitudes, and has reached out to schools. “If there were programmes about animal welfare in schools, this problem could be resolved within 10 years, because children, they like animals. But nobody in government want to approve something like that.”
