According to a report by newspaper Jornal de Notícias (JN), several councils have even gone as far as admitting there is “a risk to public health”.


Municipalities are struggling to respond to requests to house stray and abandoned animals, the newspaper reports, after the new no-kill law came into effect last October.


As a result, in some cases no more animals can be taken in, meaning more strays on the streets and rapidly growing waiting lists.
JN reports that in Ponte de Lima, the local municipal kennel “has 110 cases on the waiting list”, a situation echoed in Ílhavo, Guimarães, Leiria and Palmela. Coimbra, Setúbal, Matosinhos and Marinha Grande also have overcrowded centres, the newspaper claims.


In Trás-os-Montes – a kennel that serves six counties – it has been reported that the overcrowding is leading to an “increase in the number of stray animals because there are no catchers.”


The councils of Setúbal and Alcochete have also admitted a “risk to public health and the safety of people” as no more strays can be taken in.


It was widely reported last year ahead of the introduction of the new law that local municipal animal shelters were ill-prepared structurally to cater for the extra charges that the euthanasia ban would entail.

Despite government funding having been made available for the kennels to make the necessary expansions and adaptations, the uptake was slow, with many centres only now announcing the necessary adaptation projects.


In comments to news outlet TSF, the national Municipal Veterinarians Association (ANMVM) went as far as to say the new law has “created a dramatic situation and is starting to jeopardise public safety and health”.


“Only the essential are taken in, those animals that are at risk, and the rest are left”, explained Ricardo Lobo, of the ANMVM, adding: “Many times the police authorities call me with an animal in the middle of the street and I tell them not to get it because if the animal does not have a chip they do not know what to do, I have nowhere to put it, and the police cannot keep it either”.


The ANMVM estimates that 60,000 stray animals are collected every year from the streets, of which only one third – around 20,000 animals – will find an adoptive family.


Before the new law came into force figures showed that some 12,000 animals were euthanised each year, but since
this is now banned, the kennels have quickly exhausted any available space for housing and the animals end up staying
on the street.


The ANMVM admits that the ban has only caused more problems and warns that the worst is yet to come.


Referring to the situation as a “dead end”, the association emphasises that that it is not enough to ban the destroying of animals or increase the capacity of kennels, but that it is necessary to increase inspections and punish those who abandon animals in the street.


“The country is completely negligent with regards to animals. Most animals walk without an owner, without a chip, with nothing; there is no surveillance, people are not punished and now it has been decided to place the burden of responsibility of solving this entire matter on the municipalities and we do not know how to”, Ricardo Lobo argues.


The National Association of Councils has urged the government to launch a door-to-door campaign to raise awareness among citizens to the need to properly care for their pets.


Ribau Esteves, vice-president of the association of municipalities, has said the ball in now in the government’s court.


Contacted by TSF, the Cabinet of the Minister of Agriculture recalls that before the law was passed, campaigns were carried out for the adoption of animals, to support the reconstruction of kennels and to create sterilisation programmes.