Save animals in Salzburg: Visiting the Austrian animal rescue service
“For the sake of the animals” is the motto of the Austrian animal rescue service. The rescuers are also very active in Salzburg. They had over 1400 cases last year. We talk to their president, Oswin Mair, about their work, love of animals and current projects.
SALZBURG. 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The Austrian Animal Rescue is always on hand to help animals in need. The volunteers complete a wide range of different assignments. From rescuing wild animals to relocating cats in the event of evictions, to first aid in an emergency. A trip to the pet hairdresser is said to have happened. However, according to Oswin Mair from the animal rescue service in Salzburg, this was carried out due to medical necessity. Animal rescue in Salzburg is currently running a project to share animal feed. Here those who have enough can donate food for the animals of people who just don’t have the money.
Volunteer “for the sake of the animals”
Tuesday morning I meet at the invitation of Oswin Mair at the Austrian Animal Rescue at Moosstrasse 36 in the city of Salzburg. I am warmly welcomed by Oswin and his team with coffee and biscuits. The good-humoured and extremely talkative president of the Austrian animal rescue service immediately begins to talk about animal rescue services.
“We are the Red Cross for animals, so to speak. Our emergency number can be reached 24 hours a day, seven days a week. We only have 1.5 full-time employees across Austria. There are also only volunteers who work with us for the welfare of the animals.”
Oswin Mair, President of the Austrian Animal Rescue
If you dial the emergency number, you get to the headquarters in Lower Austria. From there you will be connected to the animal rescuers in the respective federal state. After they have then inquired by phone what is going on, the animal rescue service rushes to the scene, in an emergency also with blue lights.
Neither shelter nor taxi
As Oswin Mair emphasizes, you are neither an animal shelter nor an animal taxi, but an emergency service.
“We do it like the Red Cross. We are purely an animal rescue service. So we are not an animal shelter. We don’t bark, meow or chirp. Except for our private dogs. They are of course there. The animal rescue service is there for that responsible for helping animals in difficult situations,” says Oswin Mair.
Pleasure trips, such as to the dog groomer, are definitely not part of the remit of animal rescue. Such a thing is said to have happened before. “But it was medically indicated,” assures Oswin Mair.
Aside from rescue operations, the animal rescue also offers courses in first aid for pets and further training for animal rescue workers and animal paramedics.
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lining parts
A current animal rescue project in Salzburg is a collection point for sharing animal feed. “If you have too much – bring it. If you have too little, take it”. As the responsible animal rescuer, Inge Paulus, explains to us, this basic idea is intended to support people in feeding their animals. The donations are then portioned and given out by the animal rescue service. In general, the whole thing is very well received, says Paulus. However, you would tend to need a little more bird seed expenditure. This is where you realize that people use most of the birdseed themselves, probably due to the time of year.
cohesion
As Oswin Mair points out, there is a lot of unity in animal rescue. According to him, no one is left behind here. If colleagues have problems, for example if they get into financial difficulties, they are given the best possible support from everyone. The animal rescue sees itself as a family, united by their love for animals.
As the last point of the interview, Oswin Mair has an appeal to the Salzburg animal owners. “Please have your pets chipped and registered. We often have the classic that an animal is chipped but not registered. We can’t identify it. And if we can’t identify it, no matter what happens to the animal, the owner usually finds out not what happened to his pet. It can also be that the animal then falls into other hands. Just because it may not be chipped or not registered,” explains Oswin Mair.
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