Sunday 28 December 2008

German animal lovers help pets in need

Penny was eating her breakfast as I sat reading The Age newspaper today. When I read an article about a German organisation called Tiertafel I realised how lucky we are to be able to feed Penny well.

With times so hard all around the world, many people are having to make the hard decision to give up a much-loved pet because they have to choose between feeding themselves (or their children) - or feeding the pet.

Many elderly pensioners are in this sad situation and we all know that if an old pet is given up to a shelter it's unlikely to be adopted.

Tiertafel was set up to stop people having to make this awful choice. Pet owners in financial difficulty, short term or long term, can get free food for their pets.

There are about 19 of these free food outlets in Germany now. I had a look at a lovely feel-good video clip showing the 'pet soup-kitchen' in action in Berlin. Even if you don't speak German, it's a nice video to look at. First it shows 'two-legs' patiently queuing with their four-legged pals and then explains that people need to prove they are in need. Then we see volunteers bringing in donations and a lady explains that she's donated some food because she feels for people in this situation.

6 comments:

Noah the Airedale said...

What a great organisation. Thanks for sharing the video with us.

tailwags
Noah x

Misadventures of Widowhood said...

What a good idea. Unfortunately, we'll probably see a greater need for that sort of program all over the world.

Levi's mom

parlance said...

Noah, I thought I'd share it, even though it wasn't super interesting, because it made me feel good that people can get their act together so well to help other humans and other animals.

parlance said...

Levi's mum, I think you're right.

I seem to remember that the Germans have always been dog lovers. I think when I was there in the sixties and seventies I noticed dogs were even allowed in restaurants.

Anonymous said...

HEY GUYS!YOU HAVE TO CHECK OUT THE ANIMAL SHELTERS IN GREECE.WHERE NOONE CARES ABOUT THE POOR ANIMALS AND THERE ARE THOUSANDS OF STRAY DOGS AND CATS.
HERE ARE SOME LINKS: LOVE4PETS.GR
HIMAIRA.GR, STRAY.GR, ADESPOTO.GR AND MANY OTEHRS.
WE ARE VOLUNTEERS AND THE GOVERNMENT DOESN T HELP US AT ALL.IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO ADUPT A PET PLEASE CONTACT ME ON :annakriaritsi@hotmail.com
WE ARE IN GREAT NEED OF FOOD, MEDICINES OR MONEY FOR THE VETS.
PLEASE IF YOU WANT TO HELP US COTACT ME!
THANX IN ADVANCE!
ANNA SIOKI

parlance said...

Anna, thanks for that info. I will do a post about it so people can see it, because this post is a few weeks old.