Portugal currently has 3.1 million registered pets and since 2021 more than 800 thousand have been registered, in a universe that receives around 12 million euros in state support this year, it was announced this Friday.

These numbers were revealed, this Friday, on the occasion of the 2nd Animal Welfare Conference, organized by the Institute for the Conservation of Nature and Forests (ICNF) and which took place at the Alfândega do Porto Congress Centre.

According to that State body, in 2022 the support for animal welfare increased to 12 million euroswhile in 2021 they were around eight million, which allowed the creation of 47 new collection centersalong with the modernization and expansion of 24 existing facilities.

The data released today in a note sent to the Lusa agency, shows that last year alone, around 800,000 animals were registered in the Companion Animal Information System (SIAC).having the number of sterilizations in the last year increased by 64.12%, to 28,990 animals.

You most sterilized animals were cats (10,840) and cats (6,560), following the bitches (6,511) and the dogs (5,079).

The information sent refers to the fact that the 800,000 pets registered with the SIAC “is one of the clearest indicators of the need for social and legislative evolution in terms of animal welfare, to strengthen the response to the problems that still exist in this field”.

According to the same note, during the 2nd conference held this Friday in Porto, some of the measures that have been put into practice in areas such as guaranteeing the protection of pets or plans to control the accommodation of pets, and to implement these strategies, “state support made available in 2022 can amount to up to 12 million euros”.

The ICNF advances that the analysis of the support for 2021 concluded that of the 10.7 million euros of funds made available for animal welfare projects about 8.1 million were allocated.

Provisional data for 2022, also released at the conference, indicate that, since the formation of the Companion Animal Welfare Department in 2021, it has been carried out by the ICNF 522 visits to existing animal accommodations and issued 304 registrations for the creation of new spaces. During this period, 291 complaints were filed with the ICNF, mostly related to the omission of care in the accommodation.

• Text: SIC Notícias, POSTAL’s partner television, with Lusa