(13 Oct 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Havana, Cuba – 06 October 2024
1. Various of stray dogs in the street
2. Man feeding stray cat
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Havana, Cuba – 04 October 2024
3. “Adoptions for Love” founder Elizabeth Meade talking at her shelter while feeding animals
4. Various of animals eating and resting on a bed
5. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Elizabeth Meade, founder of “Adoptions for Love” group
“Many people call us by phone asking us to take in their pets because they are going to emigrate. Suddenly, it can be a week, two days or less in advance. Because many times they hadn’t planned who was going to take care of the pet, or who was going to keep them permanently. At the last minute, the person does not know what to do and they have nowhere to take the animal, be it a cat or a dog. Local neighbors also call us when they see an abandoned cat or dog on the block, in the building, or the hallway, as people in the house have already sold it and emigrated. They call us to rescue those animals. Many times, we can take them in, but other times if we are full we can’t. We can’t do it.”
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Havana, Cuba – 06 October 2024
6. Family taking photo with new cat adopted at street adoption fair
7. Woman carrying puppy for adoption standing next to her mother, UPSOUND (Spanish): “Puti, you’re not going to be alone anymore.”
8. Animal shelter volunteer Maripaz Álvarez talking to potential adopters
9. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Maripaz Álvarez, Animal shelter volunteer:
“There is no situation of need or anything that justifies the abandonment or mistreatment of animals.”
10. Volunteer vaccinating puppy that was adopted
11. Woman carrying her adopted puppy
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Havana, Cuba – 07 October 2024
12. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Leandro Valdés, dog trainer:
“Abandonment is the worst form of animal abuse because you are exposing them to countless dangers which they face in the street.”
13. Valdés telling his dog to sit
14. Various of Valdés riding his electric scooter with his dog wearing goggles
STORYLINE:
Animal shelters in Havana have reported a significant increase in the number of cats and dogs abandoned because of the economic crisis and people leaving the island to find a better future.
There are no official figures on how many pets have been left to fend for themselves in recent years.
But more than half a dozen animal activists consulted by The Associated Press agreed that there has been a noticeable increase, overwhelming the few under-resourced shelters.
Animals wandering the streets looking for food have become a common sight.
Animal-loving neighbors do their best to keep the street animals fed, but the economic crisis is making it harder for everyone to have enough food left over to share with cats and dogs.
“They call us on the phone to ask us to take in their pets because suddenly they are going to emigrate and at the last minute they have nowhere to take the animal,” veterinary technician Elizabeth Meade says.
Meade is the founder of a group called Adopciones por Amor – or Adoptions for Love – which is supported through donations.
The economic crisis, unleashed in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and exacerbated by U.S. sanctions, has provoked a migratory wave of islanders.
Between October 2021 and September 2024, U.S. border authorities reported more than 600,000 encounters with Cuban migrants, in addition to those who settled in Spain or Latin American countries.
This is not a negligible figure for an island with a population of some 10 million inhabitants.
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