Protection of stray dogs and cats, animal shelter animals and against animal testing

 Please discuss and comment here!

In Europe, countless street dogs, street cats and animals still suffer in animal shelters. Animals are exposed, inadequately cared for, abused or kept in poor conditions. In some regions, healthy animals are still being killed, although sustainable and animal welfare alternatives are available.

Romania clearly demonstrates the urgent need for change. Animal welfare organizations and volunteers rescue dogs from public institutions and the street, fund veterinary treatments, castrations and vaccinations, and bring animals to safety. But private initiatives cannot finance or manage this task on their own in the long run.

We are convinced: Castration and prevention rather than killing must take precedence.

These include in particular:

• systematic castration programmes
• vaccination and veterinary care
• identification and registration
• adequate minimum standards for shelters •
responsible mediation and education
• transparency and animal welfare conditions in the use of public funds and EU funds

Animal testing is also part of our initiative.

Another important part of our European Citizens' Initiative concerns the use of animals for scientific purposes.

Street dogs, street cats and animals from shelters are among the most vulnerable animals. We therefore want their protection to be consistently guaranteed and further strengthened within the framework of European rules for scientific purposes.

Street and shelter animals must not become an easily available source for experimental animals.

We would therefore like to discuss Europe-wide:

What is the situation of street dogs, street cats and animal shelter animals in your country?

Should there be stronger and binding European standards of protection?

Should the EU promote castration, vaccination, registration and sustainable population management more than support systems that kill animals?

Is the protection of road and animal shelter animals sufficient in the field of animal testing?

This is not just about animal welfare. Sustainable population management, vaccinations and registration can also relieve municipalities in the long term and contribute to the protection of the population.

For these reasons, we have launched the European Citizens’ Initiative ‘Protection of stray dogs, street cats and shelter animals’ – ECI 2026/000003.

👉 Here you can support our European Citizens' Initiative:
https://citizens-initiative.europa.eu/initiatives/details/2026/000003 _de

💬 And right here in the official ECI forum, you can comment, share your experiences and make your own suggestions under this post.

We would like to explicitly invite people from all EU Member States: Citizens, animal welfare organisations, veterinarians, volunteers and municipalities.

Come with me. Their experience can show where Europe needs to act.