Shelter for homeless animals

The shelter for homeless animals – the place of the living homeless, lost or abandoned animals, primarily dogs and cats. Shelters are one of the key components for the protection of animals and perform four main functions: operational assistance and care of the animal, including the relief of suffering through veterinary care or euthanasia; long-term care for the animal, not immediately found the old or new owner; efforts to reunite a lost animal with its former owner; the search for a new habitat or a new owner of a homeless animal. One of the famous shelters for stray dogs appeared in Japan near the city of Edo (now Tokyo) in 1695, on the initiative of the feudal ruler of the Tokugawa shogun, tunesi, known by the nickname “inukami”, or “Dog shogun”. 270 employees of the orphanage, which was maintained at the expense of the taxpayers were required in every way to please dogs, to ensure that they do not interfere in a fight with each other. Within two hours after lunch, the dogs gave lectures on Confucianism.[source not specified 1475 days]

In the U.S., the first shelters for animals appeared in the XIX century. In 1883 in Ohio was created the Capital humane society (The Capital Area Humane Society). Shelter there are more than a hundred years, according to data for 2001 through it annually hosts more than 10 thousand abandoned dogs and cats. The main objective of the refuge is to find new owners for homeless animals. The shelter volunteers aged 16 years, they serve dogs, treat them, walk with them and see how animals live at the new owners.

As at 2009, in the U.S. there were 3,500 shelters, with up to 3-4 million dogs per year euthanized in them due to the lack of people willing to take animals[2]

In Australia the first orphanage “House of lost dogs” (The Lost Dogs’ Home) was founded in 1912, now it is the third largest shelter in the country. In 2001 it was 20 thousand dogs and cats. As in the United States, in this country shelters is a charitable organization that exist on donations from citizens. The dog has no time to be wandering, being on the street. For the lost animal is taken to provide shelters and volunteers immediately come to pick up the beast. According to the 1994 law On domestic animal, the owner has eight days to claim the found dog. Animal passes veterinary control. If the dog has a serious incurable disease, bring her suffering, her euthanized.

In the UK the first officially registered shelter for abandoned and starving cats was founded in 1885 in Dublin[3]. Not all of the existing shelters have their own premises – their volunteers keep animals at home, while looking for new hosts[4]. In Liverpool any dog found on the street or in city parks without the owner caught and placed in the shelter of the Royal society for the protection of animals (RSPCA), where it will be kept up to 7 days. If there is the owner, then the dog will be returned to him after paying for the capture and maintenance of the shelter. If during the week no one will claim the dog, it becomes the property of the RSPCA, which may take the decision to transfer the dog to a new owner or euthanasia[5]. In 2008, only in London a shelter for stray dogs is private and has over 700 animals.