| dc.description.abstract | Background: In 2023, the "Bojtár" Telephone Animal Protection Legal Advisory
Association and the Department of Laboratory Animal Science and Animal Pro-
tection of the University of Veterinary Medicine formed a working group, which
collected informative statistical data on the number of abandoned exotic animals
and the reasons for their abandonment. .
Objectives: When the Animal Protection Act came into force, the concept of
„responsible ownership” became part of the regulation. This legal definition is
filled by professional content either by the low enforcement officers of the aut-
hority themselves for the individual animal subject in the given investigation or
he/she may ask for help; appoints a forensic expert for determining the breeds
and their demands for keeping environment at a given animal keeper. Filling with
professional content may mean a challenge for the law enforcement officers
even in case of the well-known and more popular pet animals – dogs and cats –
but it may mean an even bigger challenge in case of exotic animals when even
recognition of the breed needs a special knowledge.
Materials and Methods: Data from six Hungarian charities and one animal
protection association were collected for one month. The results are primarily
informative and attention-grabbing, no statistical analysis was performed due
to the nature of the survey.
Results and Discussion: Even one month data showed shocking results: Altog-
ether 212 exotic animals becoming a needless load mainly due to imprudent
purchase, becoming unnecessary, becoming ill, animals not to be kept further or
result of a not expected increment could be seen by the NGO-s, which resulted
in 10 million Hungarian expense for the receiving NGOs during one single month.
During the data collection it became quite clear that regulation of the supply and
the market is inevitable – i.e., aggravation – in order to avoid selling of diseased
exotic animals, as their veterinary costs and keeping mean an extra burden for
the owner and the treatment and keeping of the abandoned animals mean a too
heavy burden for the NGO-s rescuing exotic animals. | en_US |
