When & Where to go?

This week's article will be some kind of how-to post, in case you, Dear Reader might find an animal that is clearly abandoned, a runaway or is being tortured.

I will try not to bore you to death but I'm warning you: There is much to discuss in connection with legislation, and the Hungarian system and the way of handling animal abuse is probably very different from your home country. Now, let's get down to business!

First: What should you do if you find an animal in the street?

The Pet Rescue League's advice is first to take the pet to any of the veterinarian physician (in short: a vet), near you to check for a chip pets were supposed to have. If they do have an identification chip (Seen on the left) implanted in their skin, then the owner will be notified and they can decide wether or not they want the animal(s) back (which they usually do).

If you are unable to take the pet to a doctor due to financial or any other obstacles (checking for a chip is free), you may contact the Capital City's Flaying House, (call 0036-1-301-75-00) who will send their people to the scene to take the pet in question. Their worktime daily is from 7.00 a.m. until 7.00 p.m.

If you are willing to adopt a pet you found but you are earnest enough to try searching for the original owner, you might use facebook to advertise or take spreadsheets to pass to people.

Adoption

To adopt a pet you have found, there are certain rules you need to follow in order to proceed. (Please make sure you always try to locate the original owner first, someone might be miserable for losing their pet.)

If you take the found animal to a shelter and then later you decide to adopt it, there is a 14-day quarantine until which you can not take away the pet. In case you simply wish to adopt a pet, visit any of the animal shelters and be prepared to fall in love and take home a new family member! :)

In case you would like to browse on the internet to find a pet of your liking, you have the opportunity to do so. You just go to this site for example, this is the Animal Shelter in Gyömrő, one of the closest shelters to Budapest. The database is updated at least on a daily basis, so you might only find your best friend on a random day spent with surfing on the internet.

This is Johnny, my cat. My family adopted him when he was just a little furball, a size of a fist, but now he seems to have found his place and started gaining some weight. 

Temporary adoption
If you are willing to contribute to the Pet Rescue League's, or any of the animal shelters' work, you may write an e-mail to onkentes@allatmentoliga.hu to sign up for temporary adoption.
What you need to include in the e-mail:
- parameters of the dog you would like to adopt temporarily (gender, size)
- if you can fulfill obligations like taking a dog that needs the daily/weekly supervision of a doctor
- if you can only provide the space for the pet (that is enough sometimes), so that the League can help you feed the animal, they can also provide equipment for the animal.

You are a foreigner, speaking only English or German?
NO WORRIES! The Pet Rescue League will be able to handle e-mails written in English or German aswell, so feel free to write in your mothertongue!
There has been an example, when a German citizen phoned the league about a dog that they saw online, so the dog was taken to Germany to its brand new adoptive home.

Considerate Pet Keeping

This section will be dedicated to some advices from the League on how you should keep the pet you adopted!

Make sure your pet has a nice environment. This includes sufficient amount of food and space, is not endangered by any of your other pets (if you have more), and it can socialize well. Also, you will need to take it to the doctor, so please think of the monetary obligations keeping a pet will give you. Beside all  of these (maybe it might sound a bit tacky, but), pets definitely need their own share of love. Pets can feel wether or not they are loved, and if you only wish to keep for example a large dog as a status symbol, it might turn out badly, also you might find yourself in trouble if you don't do research on how to take care of oversize dogs.

What if you witness inappropriate animal-keeping? 

Well, you need to thoroughly examine the environment first, If you see traces of improper pet keepin (a dog's leash is only a meter long, and is tied up without shelter, without food or drink near it), make sure you contact the right authorities.

In case of inappropriate pet-keeping: contact the local government. 

On the first turn, they will only warn the keeper to change the circumstances. In case it all remains unchanged, they might fine the owner and only in the third round (if the poor soul lives that long) will they actually take the animal away from its owner.

In case the fellony of animal abuse occurs, so if the pet seems to be in a life-threatening danger, please contact the closest police station near you. Then you can file a report on the spot, as a private individual.

If you are in Újpest, Hungary, it is advised that you contact the League first because they have an agreement with the local government and their actions might be taken slightly more seriously.

This would be it for today; I hope you gained some information about how to adopt and keep a animal properly and I piqued your interest in adopting (even temporarily) a pet.

Thank you for reading my post, next week will be about Charity. See you then!

A Shocking First Look

Stationed nowhere. Held together by friendship. Helped by so many...

I am talking about Pet Rescue League in Budapest, an amazing group of people fighting against animal abuse,  finding and giving back runaway dogs, and helping to identify and cure those in need.
Their work is not only morally valuable, but also quite useful in the means of creating a more organized, clean and safe Budapest, that is an environment for both dogs and people.

The one of the vice presidents of this organization was kind enough to work together with me and answer all my questions about how rescuing and curing animals works in Budapest.
I thought about an intro-kind-of post for this first time, but I changed my mind and I think I will just jump right into the middle of an ongoing case about a charming young pal called Police.

He is a mixed-breed dog found in Ercsi, a small town located about 40 kilometres away from the capital city. The League doesn't only receive calls and e-mails from Budapest, they are also involved with supporting the outskirts of the capital city.

Now, back to Police. This adorable dog was found by locals, and reported to the police station of Ercsi. The policemen involved the League in the matter, as the vet who was also caled to investigate the story, declared the case to be a felony, so the rescue-team filed the report.

The dog was found bound up with a TV cable, its lenght less than one meter. Even the plastic barrel that was meant to be his hiding place was too far to reach. After cutting the wires, the dog had several deep cuts on its neck. (Pictures can be found here, but I'm warning you: they are dreadful and might wake your will to go after the perpetrator yourself.)

Some ticks were found in the dog but he seems to have escaped babesia. The owner was charged with pet abuse, even before finally admitting that he has been keeping the poor creature tied up like this ever since September (!). Although he has been through some life-threatening events, he seems to be a friendly and calm little boy. Here is a video of him, taken just about days ago.

A co-worker company, the Bully Rescue team temporarily adopted the dog, but he is currently available for adoption. I'm sure the League or the Bully Rescue team would be more than happy to consult you about giving this dog away to a loving, caring family.