How great would this sound, a world where there would be no stray dog? Well, there is actually one country in the world that has managed to achieve this amazing feat and it is Holland. Holland took the lead in this great initiative and saved the stray dogs all across the country by giving each stray dog home. The government of Holland has actually changed the lives of these stray dogs altogether as they are now living a life full of love and happiness.
The government of Holland achieved this massive mark by implementing the method called PSVIR (pick, sterilize, vaccinate, identify, and return). Thanks to this method, Holland became the first-ever country in the world to free these stray dogs from fears of street terrors and loneliness. Everyone who loves animals and especially stray dogs, want this method to be implemented all across the world.
We also support these great measures for the betterment of innocent animal life and today wish to share the details of the method that Holland adopted to free the country from stray dogs.
Once the streets were filled with dogs
Since the 19th century, the country of Holland was suffering from a massive population of dogs. Almost every family in the country had at least one pet dog as these dogs were at the time considered to be a symbol for the social status of a person. However, unfortunately, a large number of dog-population in the country led to an outbreak of rabies which then turned out to be the largest and the leading cause of death in the country for both animals and humans. Fear set among people resulted in families with pet dogs to start abandoning them. The action of abandoning the pet at that time was deemed legal and this led to the streets of Holland to be filled with all kinds of dog breeds and they were now all strays.
Government-provided free of cost Female Dog Sterilization
The streets started filling with dogs was not a solution as the problem became out of control and that was when the government stepped in with their method. They aimed to change these dire circumstances and did so by starting specific days during which castration of male dogs and sterilization of females was made mandatory. However, these sterilization days were all free of cost and the expenses were covered entirely by the government. The method worked and nearly 70 percent of the female dog population in the country was successfully sterilized. Each dog is also put through medical exams for verifying as to what vaccines or other medical services they might need.
The government placed laws against abandonment of pets
Continuing their sterilization project, the government still wanted more control over this situation and wanted to eradicate the problem of stray dogs altogether., for this purpose, the government passed one particular law for protecting animals and then one more law for the welfare and health of animals. These 2 new legislations were to encourage the dog owners to provide their pets with necessary treatment and also for eliminating the pet abuse.
If any dog owner did not follow these 2 laws, then the penalty for this was punishment by imprisonment for 3 years along with a minimum fine of 16000 dollars.
Implemented High Taxes upon purchases of breeding dogs
Most of the people who prefer to have the dog as a pet usually go with choices of either buying or adopting a high breed of dogs. The reason was simply that high breeding dogs were healthier and more beautiful as compared to non-breeding dogs. To resolve this problem of limited adoption of non-breeding dogs, the government took the step of raising the taxes upon purchase of a dog from a pet store. This led to an added expense in buying a dog and the potential new pet owners were forced to look for other ways of adopting dogs and this led to a sudden increase in the adoption of stray dogs.
Started Awareness campaigns
While the state did issue laws to prevent any abuse to the dogs, they also did work to educate the populace to understand the plight of these stray dogs. For this cause, they started many awareness campaigns and the effects started showing little by little. People started showing signs that they do want to take care of the little homeless puppies. This slow progress turned into genuine love and soon the population of over 1 million of the stray dogs in the country’s streets vanished and found warm and loving forever homes that were safer. The awareness campaigns were the most influential of all the steps taken by the government for stray pets. These campaigns led to 90 percent of the country’s population to adopt stray dogs.
Lastly, started a new job “Animal Cops”
Sure there were many adversities in all the steps taken by the Dutch government but it worked through it all to success. Following the success of their method, they transferred their job to a special division named “Animal Cops” back in 2011. They were a group of real policemen who were made in-charge to protect and safeguard the dogs against possible abuse and distress. With the success of this whole initiative by the government, the Netherlands is now the only country in the world to have dogs in nearly every house. It is also the only country in the world that allows dogs in its restaurants, stores, and all other establishments.
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