The majority of dogs who were temporarily adopted during a winter freeze in the Polish city of Kraków are likely to remain in their new homes permanently, the city’s shelter has revealed.
Three weeks ago, the shelter issued an appeal for people to temporarily house the dogs that it keeps in outdoor enclosures because temperatures were about to drop to -20°C (-4°F). It was then stunned by an unprecedented response that resulted in all 123 dogs who needed temporary homes being offered them.
Kraków's animal shelter has been left stunned after locals offered homes ahead of a winter freeze to all its dogs kept outdoors.
Even the police, who came to issue tickets to cars parked around the shelter, instead ended up taking a dog to their station https://t.co/aopWsJvfh0
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The shelter now reports that, despite temperatures having returned to a more normal level, only 20 of those dogs have been brought back. The hosts of another 22 have said that, although they have not returned them yet, they cannot keep the animals permanently.
However, 32 of the temporary adopters have already signed papers to permanently keep their dogs, with a further 14 adoption procedures underway. Another 40 hosts have contacted the shelter to say they plan to either keep the dogs permanently or until another home can be found for them.
The shelter feels that the outcome vindicates their actions, which had been criticised by some other shelters because temporarily moving the dogs to homes and then back to the shelter could cause them stress.
“We got a bit of hate, at first we were a little concerned about it, but then we weren’t anymore, because it’s clear that this action has many more advantages than disadvantages,” an inspector from the shelter, Joanna Repel, told local newspaper Gazeta Krakowska.
“It would never normally be possible to find homes for so many animals in such a short time,” she added. “In addition, mongrels were adopted, who often had been in the shelter for many years and normally had very little or no chance of being adopted. It is beautiful that these animals have found homes.”
The shelter has shared some of its success stories on social media, including Reva, whose temporary adopter said she had decided to keep the dog permanently and also “encourages other people to adopt older dogs”.
Repel told Głos24, another local news outlet, that even in cases where dogs were returned, they now have a much better chance of being adopted permanently because the time they spent in a temporary home helped the shelter learn more about their behaviour and character.
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Main image credit: KTOZ/Facebook
Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.
