Dogs from abroad part 2: animal welfare or a profitable business?

When you are looking for a dog, sooner or later they inevitably turn up: dogs from abroad, gazing at you loyally and pitifully from some filthy, barred shelter. And the animal welfare associations that place dogs from abroad also speak in heart-softening words of the terrible conditions on site and of the urgency with which the poor creatures are seeking a better home in the promised land of animal welfare. In fact, the question is not whether animal welfare abroad is justified: even a glance at the sometimes catastrophic situation for animals in some countries makes it clear that help is urgently needed. Whether, however, the pragmatic placement of animals in need into Germany is the right way is something that can be argued about at length.

Between an act of pity and real help

Whether in the shelters of Romania or on the streets of the Mediterranean countries: dogs in particular have a considerably less pleasant time in many countries than here with us. Being kicked, driven away, chased and tormented is, alongside hunger, part of everyday life for many strays. Whoever survives that still faces the dog catcher, who daily brings many dogs to killing stations or public shelters that are hardly any better. There the animals are then often crammed together in the tightest space, without any retreat, without a place to relieve themselves, and without protection from cold and heat. These dogs can only dream of sufficient food or affection. Many of the animal inmates of such institutions perish from illnesses, bite wounds and malnutrition, or else they vegetate dully in the conditions unworthy of an animal.

You do not have to be a dedicated animal welfare activist to recognise the horror of these conditions. The thought of saving at least one dog's life by adopting a dog from abroad is tempting. And indeed, you can thereby massively improve the situation of an individual dog – it does not, however, change anything about the overall situation, quite apart from the fact that adopting a dog from abroad can under certain circumstances mean a very great burden (as we reported).

For the shelters and killing stations are full: hardly is one dog placed when three more move up to take its place. These are dimensions that one can barely imagine here in this country, especially when you consider that a large proportion of strays do not survive the first weeks of life at all, and that many street dogs meet their end under car wheels or through poisoned bait from annoyed residents, rather than ending up in the shelter. Ultimately, everyone probably has to admit that the adoption of a dog from abroad, while it means a wonderful opportunity for that dog, is without doubt no serious help in animal welfare abroad, but rather a drop in the ocean.

Critical voices on animal welfare abroad

It is at precisely this point that the critical voices grow loud. For the placement of dogs from abroad seems to be a bottomless pit: as long as the situation on site does not improve, new dogs keep coming that are seeking a new home in German living rooms. There, however, they often cannot stay, because the newly minted dog owners, out of sheer pity, have failed to check their living circumstances carefully, and are now, after all, overwhelmed by the new family member and its sometimes special requirements. Then the former dogs from abroad end up in German animal shelters – which, however, are in many places already overcrowded! Would it not then be better to adopt a dog from a German animal shelter instead of importing further dogs from abroad?

In fact, this point of criticism is not entirely unjustified: in German animal shelters too there are dogs waiting for adoption, which they have likewise honestly earned. However, it must also be said honestly that German dogs available for placement show a lower heterogeneity. Since there are, for example, no street dogs in this country and neutering and spaying are a matter of course for many dog owners, the quantity of unwanted litters is fortunately also considerably lower. Despite many disreputable backyard breeders, the „supply“ therefore remains comparatively limited. Dogs that end up in the shelter are normally animals whose owners could no longer keep them for various personal or health reasons, or else were overwhelmed by them. The latter group unfortunately forms the majority, and correspondingly many dogs in German shelters are therefore likewise still barely trained and have in some cases already developed initial behavioural disorders. The actual emergency surrenders due to deaths, divorce and the like, which have already received a basic upbringing and often also a solid socialisation, are rare and often quickly placed, or else already somewhat older and thus less attractive for placement.

Animal welfare abroad, by contrast, offers an enormously heterogeneous field of the most varied dogs: from the puppy through the young dog to the senior, from the 20 cm dwarf to the 70 cm giant, the interested party gets almost anything „to order“ from abroad. That may at first sound unfair towards the German shelter dogs, but in fact it also increases the likelihood that an interested party really will find the right dog for themselves. In other words: the people who adopt a dog from animal welfare abroad are not necessarily the same people who would also be interested in a dog from German animal welfare.

A further common practice that needs to be questioned is that of „buying dogs free“ from killing stations: because by now the operators of these stations are already speculating that a certain number of the dogs will be bought free by foreign animal welfare activists, and therefore deliberately accept overcrowding. After all, these funds are a welcome bonus on top of the per-head payments they receive from public funds for the killing. Whether the situation for the animals in the confinement worsens further is of no interest to anyone at the killing station, while animal welfare activists feel thereby reinforced in their sense that they have to „buy free“ further animals – a vicious circle that can be broken not through adoptions from abroad, but only through educational work on site.

A business built on pity and love of animals?

Another important point of criticism that keeps coming up is that in animal welfare abroad it is less about the animals than about the money. And here too it unfortunately has to be said: there is a true kernel behind it. There are, admittedly, many reputable organisations that act in accordance with applicable law and with the welfare of the animals in mind, but unfortunately there are also many black sheep. With reputable animal welfare abroad, no profit can certainly be made: it finances itself almost exclusively through donations, and the income is normally put straight back into the equipment of private animal welfare centres or neutering projects and the like. Monies that are paid for the imported dog can be clearly itemised.

Unfortunately, it is nevertheless often not easy to distinguish reputable from disreputable animal welfare abroad. That is why here are a few points by which you can make distinctions:

Reputable animal welfare abroad vs. disreputable animal import

• Pre- and post-placement checks:
  ✅ Good: Checks are carried out on the future dog owners.
  ❌ Bad: The dogs can be collected without any further ado by private individuals or even directly at the place of arrival (for example at a motorway car park). There is no personal contact with staff of the organisation beforehand.
• Transparency of costs:
  ✅ Good: The costs incurred can be disclosed.
  ❌ Bad: When asked about the costs incurred, the answer is evasive.
• Health & import regulations:
  ✅ Good: All animals have been examined, vaccinated and chipped in accordance with the import regulations and can be clearly identified with valid identification papers.
  ❌ Bad: The import regulations are not observed. This may be that puppies are under 4 months old (entry is then illegal!), that vaccinations have not been carried out (check the vaccination record!) or also that no adequate veterinary examinations have been performed. Unfortunately, forged papers are also occurring more and more frequently.
• Honesty in the placement:
  ✅ Good: Interested parties are also made aware of possible problems and difficulties: not only advantages but also any weaknesses of the animal can be named.
  ❌ Bad: The animals on offer are presented as perfect dogs in terrible circumstances – supposedly all are well socialised, people-friendly and in need of cuddles; possible problems are swept under the carpet.
• Sustainability on site:
  ✅ Good: The organisation also works on site in order to be able to fundamentally improve the situation for the animals there, e.g. through neutering projects, expansion of local animal welfare, support of local shelters, etc.
  ❌ Bad: An improvement of the circumstances in the country of origin is not specifically pursued; the organisation merely concerns itself with the „relocation“ of the animals.

You should, incidentally, also become critical if an organisation mainly offers puppies, since organised crime is increasingly discovering the business of pity for itself and is beginning to sell puppies from mass breeding as „animal welfare puppies“ – these are then often too young, sick and have forged papers. On top of this, even far from the large-scale organised puppy trade, quick money can easily be made with puppies that nobody in the country of origin wants anyway.

Even when „used-up“ mother dogs and surplus puppies from mass breeding are „bought free“ and placed, you should exercise caution. Because this not only indirectly supports the cruel mass breeding; you can also not be sure that the organised puppy trade itself is not behind it, seeking in this way to squeeze one last profit out of animals that are no longer profitable for breeding.

Sustainable help – but how?

Helping only selectively, by indiscriminately exporting animals to Germany, is certainly no real help for animals abroad. Nevertheless, it is clear that animal welfare does not stop at the borders. That is why it is above all important to shape the help in such a way that it can bring sustainable improvements.

In this country animal welfare is already well developed and well structured – an advantage from which foreign animal welfare organisations can also benefit. Because with the appropriate „development aid“, it can be possible to create structures abroad as well that significantly improve the conditions of the animals on site and increase the chances of placement in the country of origin.

This includes, for example, educational campaigns on site that once again bring home to the resident people, who have grown accustomed to looking away, that the animals in their country need help. Neutering projects, too, which reduce the number of street dogs and uncontrollably littering bitches on farms, are helpful in reducing the suffering. The expansion of private animal welfare institutions and shelters through cooperation with local animal welfare activists has proven helpful: this creates a more animal-friendly alternative to the public shelters. Of course, support for local animal welfare can also take place through donations in kind and money, training and the like – what is important above all is that work actually takes place on site that can have long-term effects, instead of simply outsourcing the problem of the „surplus“ dogs to German shelters. Because in the long term all countries must create and enforce their own animal welfare structures.

Why adopting dogs from abroad nevertheless makes sense

Even if the adoption of a dog from abroad is only a drop in the ocean, even if it does not create any sustainable help – it nevertheless makes sense. On the one hand, of course, for the dog, which thereby receives the chance of a better life. On the other hand, though, also for the owner, who might not have found what they were looking for in German animal welfare for lack of suitable candidates.

It is sad that black sheep repeatedly and ever more lastingly destroy the reputation of reputable animal welfare abroad. Reputable organisations that work sustainably should, however, continue to be encouraged and supported in their work through donations and adoptions.