Epidemiology of Abandonment: reasons why guardians seek out animal protection Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) to give up their pets

Abstract

Abandoning domestic animals is a frequent problem in urban areas, harming animals, humans, and the environment. A single health strategy-based approach is necessary to understand the context of this problem, making it possible to build measures to tackle it. This study aimed to identify the main reasons given by guardians who contacted animal protection Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) to surrender their pets. We found that the majority of the animals were puppies (34.9%, 44/126), did not have a defined breed (54.8%, 69/126), were not neutered (57.9%, 73/126), had lived with their guardian for less than 6 months (54%, 68/126), and were street-rescued (42.9%, 54/126). The most frequently reported reasons for giving up their animals were housing issues (44.2%, 23/52), followed by financial problems (30.8%, 16/52), and the guardian’s illness (11.5%, 6/52). Regarding the profile of the guardians taking part in this study, the majority were female (71.2%, 37/52), had completed high school (46.2%, 24/52), had children (65.4%, 34/52), and did not receive any social benefits (71.2%, 37/52). When guardians were offered alternative support to give up or keep the animal, 90.4% (47/52) said nothing would enable them to keep it. This study is a first step towards understanding animal abandonment in Brazil. Furthermore, it shows that few people are willing to resolve the situation that led to them wanting to give up the animal, demonstrating that dealing with abandonment goes far beyond an informed reason, which often seems to have the intention of supporting abandonment. Understanding human behavior in abandoning domestic animals is a significant challenge, as guardians rarely resolve the situation. Thus, developing ways of strengthening the human-animal bond will be necessary to propose coping measures.