The Scope of Municipal Programmes for the Care of Homeless Animals and the Prevention of Homelessness of Animals: Selected Issues

Abstract

The article is of a scientific and research nature, and its main aim is to resolve interpretive dilemmas about the provisions defining the scope of municipal programmes for the care of homeless animals and the prevention of homelessness of animals, with a particular focus on providing homeless animals with a place in an animal shelter and catching homeless animals. The need to address this issue is primarily due to its social importance and, in particular, the fact that reducing the population of homeless animals continues to be in the public interest. This is so because it is a group of animals whose presence in the environment entails the risk of spreading infectious diseases and the risk of losses in forestry, and whose presence often generates very high costs for local authorities related to their capture and subsequent maintenance. Moreover, this issue is very rarely subject to in-depth scientific analysis. Therefore, the dissemination of previously unpublished research results will help to develop an optimal model of administrative protection for homeless animals and raise public awareness about the legal protection of animals, which is one of the conditions for further civilization progress.