There are almost a million abandoned animals in mainland Portugal

There are more than 930,000 stray animals in mainland Portugal, including 830,541 cats and 101,015 dogs, according to the first National Stray Animal Census published this Friday by the Institute of Nature Conservation and Forests.

The National Census of Wandering Animals 2023 was developed by the University of Aveiro for the Institute of Conservation of Nature and Forests (ICNF) and financed by the Ecological Fund.

Republican National Guard (GNR) data collected through the study on traffic accidents shows that between 2019 and 2022, there were 4,640 accidents involving pedestrians, including 4,443 dogs and 197 cats, with 2020 being the highest the year in which the highest number of accidents involving pedestrians occurred in 2020. were registered (1428 and 84 respectively).

When it comes to stray cats, only 5.3% of respondents report that they felt physically threatened, and 5.9% were actually attacked.

In terms of caring for these felines, 83.4% of respondents had already provided food, 78.6% water, 48.3% shelter, and 14.1% had provided other care.

Regarding stray dogs, 27.2% of respondents report feeling physically threatened by a stray dog, of which 7.2% have already been attacked.

More than two-thirds (70.5%) of respondents provided food to stray dogs, 65.2% provided water, 37.1% provided shelter, and 17.1% provided other care.

This study also suggests that cat owners have a lower level of responsibility than dog owners, especially in terms of individual identification and unattended outdoor access.

Most (26.8%) had only one or two cats, but some had three (17.2%), four (7.8%), five (5.4%), or more than five (14.7% ). company (78%).

“Cats were reported to be acquired primarily from found animals (68.6%), adopted from shelters (29.5%), or suggested by friends or family (19.6%),” according to the data.

A small proportion of respondents report purchasing animals from breeders (4%) via the Internet (3.8%) or through their own breeding (2.7%).

Dogs, on the other hand, demonstrate high levels of responsible ownership: 92% of owners identify and register all their animals and 92% are never allowed outside unattended, and 25% report that they do not use any form of contraception during pregnancy . their animals, and 28% report that they have already hunted.

The majority of respondents only owned one (45.2%) or two (24.1%) dogs, and the main motivation for owning dogs was companionship (88%).

About one in four people (23.9%) purchased animals from breeders (17.2%), online (5.3%) or in pet stores (1.4%).

This research also created the Errantes app, which allows each user to record their data and that of their pets, as well as observations of animals that roam freely, or prey caught by animals with or without a keeper.