Photo Project Wants To Raise Awareness About The Large Number Of Abandoned Animals

Millions of dogs roam the streets of the world every day. The situation of these animals is truly worrying. Many are sacrificed and others are spayed or neutered. Only a small population ends up in shelters until they are adopted.

Although in recent years there has been a proliferation of shelters and organizations in defense of animal rights, it is a reality that still leaves much to be desired.

In fact, animals that end up in shelters have been proven to have a 50% chance of survival. And according to statistics, more than half of these dogs are euthanized and only a tiny percentage are ever adopted.

In Spain, for example, the situation is alarming. According to studies, this country has the highest pet abandonment figures in Europe, and dogs are the animals that suffer most from this type of problem.

But all is not lost and, as we mentioned, throughout and around the world, hundreds of organizations and people concerned about this phenomenon are trying to reverse this situation.

An example of this is the project headed by the Hungarian photographer, Saroltan Bán, whose aim is to raise awareness and help dogs find a home.

The initiative

There is no doubt that a picture is often worth a thousand words. This premise is something that artist Saroltan Bán knows very well and that’s why, a couple of years ago, he started a campaign to promote the adoption of abandoned dogs.

For his project, called “Help dogs with images”, Bán looks for photographs of abandoned dogs and turns them into true works of art.

Through his “fan page”, the artist receives daily hundreds of images of stray dogs. Through digital editing, he transforms the environment by putting different scenarios or giving the animals a personality.

Afterwards, the image is republished so that this animal can be adopted and find a home.

The big news is that after starting the project, it was possible to adopt hundreds of dogs. But that is not all. Today, the initiative also echoes in other parts of the world, and hundreds of artists or digital publishing aficionados are putting Bán’s idea into practice.

In Cyprus, for example, photographer Stuart Holroyd has been editing dog images for adoption since last year. The photographs belong to dogs that were rescued by a small shelter, whose name is “Bay Tree Rescue”.

Holroyd was interested in the project, so he decided to use the pictures of the dogs and edit them recreating original and fantastic scenarios. The objective of the initiative is to raise funds, create awareness and encourage adoptions.

In Holroyd’s words, “the situation for stray dogs in Cyprus is very bad” and “animal cruelty is at its highest point”. The artist claims that in his country animals are beaten and tortured for no reason, just for “fun”.

In addition, he adds that the situation is even worse, since in that country there are no laws against animal cruelty, which leads to greater vulnerability.

Not to forget…

The abandonment of animals can be fought with information, prevention and awareness. 

Only 1 out of 10 dogs finds a permanent home.

Each year, approximately 2.7 million dogs and cats die because shelters are too full or there is a severe lack of foster homes.

Worldwide, each year, 7.6 million pets end up in animal shelters. Of this number, 3.9 million are dogs and approximately 3.4 million are cats.

Only 10% of animals arriving at shelters have been spayed or neutered. This figure is worrisome, if we take into account that  an unsterilized bitch and her offspring can have up to 67,000 dogs.

And if we talk about cats, the figure multiplies several times. An unsterilized cat and her offspring can have up to 420,000 kittens.

In general, the animals end up in shelters for different reasons: they were handed over by their owners, they were lost or they were picked up from the street by municipal agents.

Half of the dogs that arrive at shelters are euthanized.