A shelter in Munich launched the curious idea to combat the abandonment of animals after the coronavirus pandemic.
“I’m not someone for one night”: For many of those who look into the eyes of Paris, on Tinder, it is surely love at first sight. And then there’s this self-description on her dating app profile: “Enthusiastic driver who lived in Greece for a while, smart, faithful and loyal. His last sure appeal melts many hearts: Let me be your protector! “
Only Paris is a dog. And he lives in an animal shelter in Munich.
“The idea came to a Munich marketing agency. We selected and created seven cat profiles and seven dog profiles, ”explains Kristina Berchtold from the Munich Association for Animal Welfare. “The algorithm recognized the animals and blocked them. But after a conversation, Tinder unblocked them all again, and even gave us advertising, “he adds in an interview with DW.
A creative idea for an animal abandonment phenomenon
Thus, the dogs Harcos and Joshi, and the cat Saskia, are not looking for a fleeting adventure on the dating platform, but a long-term stable relationship. Those who match them will get to know and really love their four-legged friends at the Munich Animal Shelter. Currently, 1,085 animals live there, including hedgehogs, waterfowl and even foxes, but most of all cats and rabbits. What many of them have in common: the lack of luck in the previous relationship with their owners, a sad phenomenon that often began to occur during a confinement by the coronavirus.
This is the case of Bella, an example of a failed project in the pandemic. The cat, born in 2020, was abandoned in a cardboard box with her baby, who had to be euthanized immediately due to illness. In the box there was a letter that said: “I can no longer afford vet expenses.”
“With this campaign we also want to draw attention to abandoned animals. Especially animals with problems, sick and elderly, who have ended up more and more often in animal shelters since the beginning of the coronavirus crisis, ”says Berchtold.
Boom in the purchase of dogs and cats during the pandemic
If Mico could create his own profile on Tinder, this is probably what he would say: “8-year-old Pekingese, funny guy, with a big ego, who makes everyone laugh.” The puppy from the Bonn animal shelter also lived through the typical story of suffering marked by the coronavirus: an order on the eBay auction site, an owner that was quickly overloaded, and, as a result, the delivery of Mico to the shelter after some weeks.
From 2019 to 2020, there was an increase of one million cats and 600,000 dogs in Germany, as many as if all the inhabitants of the German cities of Cologne and Leipzig had suddenly acquired a cat or a dog. Animal welfare advocates urgently warned of the hasty purchase of a pet during the coronavirus pandemic. In the town of Moers, a 65-year-old woman recently threw her dog over the six-foot-high fence of the animal shelter. The reason: she was overwhelmed by caring for the animal.
Julia Zerwas knows what the typical call from a person who is overwhelmed looks like. Before the coronavirus, it was about one such call per week; now, it is an average of five. “I have a dog that growled at my son the other day.” Or: “My dog bit a neighbor. Now he has to leave home as quickly as possible ”. That’s what people say, says the director of the Albert Schweitzer animal shelter in Bonn. “The tolerance and patience of the owners are low. As soon as there are problems, very few ever try again ”.
Animals need love, attention and education. But it seems that Germans have gone to “Tinder mode” when it comes to choosing their pet: they are looking for the perfect partner, without defects or weaknesses, who promises an absolutely calm relationship. “If the dog can drive and stay alone, if he gets along with children and plays with other dogs, wonderful. But as soon as something doesn’t work, locating them becomes difficult, ”says Zerwas.
Illegal Puppy Trade Increases Massively
If Tinder is the platform that can lift a few animals out of misery, eBay is still the starting point for hundreds of animals to suffer from stress, illness, and sometimes even death. The illegal puppy trade is booming in times of the coronavirus. According to an assessment by the German Association for Animal Welfare, 1,307 animals were affected in the first half of 2021, more than in the whole of last year. Due to the high number of unreported cases, this is only the tip of the iceberg.
“This platform opens all its doors to illegal trade. This trade must finally be restricted and regulated by law, if a ban cannot be applied. It would be necessary to toughen the sanctions to the illegal traders, the controls. and also to reinforce the clarification of the cases ”, warns DW Hester Pommerening, of the aforementioned association. “But in reality, the politicians have done nothing, nothing has happened, and the situation is becoming more and more dramatic.”
German animal welfare organizations are now pinning their hopes on the new government, a new minister, possibly from the Greens party, who is more committed to what happens to animals. And at the EU level, they are also pushing for the illegal trade in these to be curtailed, and for the identification and registration of dogs and cats across Europe to be made mandatory. Hester Pommerening: “What we are currently seeing is a consumption of living beings. Many people buy animals as merchandise, as if they were a toy, and they simply want to return them when something does not work. (E)
Paul is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment and general news. He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established herself as a respected voice in the industry.
