Eco Hvar - ANIMAL WELFARE: What We Do

font size decrease font size increase font size
Print
Email

ANIMAL WELFARE: What We Do

We do our best to help animals in need. This is an overview of what we do, despite our limited resources. We aim to do more!

Two rescued puppies (2018)

Every year, Eco Hvar receives inquiries, complaints and pleas for help about lost, abandoned and ill-treated animals. Some of the inquiries come from islanders, the majority from Croatian and foreign guests. Most relate to dogs and cats on Hvar, but they have also included donkeys, horses and birds. A few inquiries come in from other islands and even distant parts of mainland Croatia.

Top ten topics:

1. Stray dogs wandering loose, looking hungry and lost

2. Lost dogs, reported by owners or finders

3. Dogs living in squalor without proper shelter from the sun, and without regular food and water

4. Dogs kept on a chain, barking and/or howling non-stop day and night

5. Dogs creating a nuisance, not kept under proper control

6. Cats abandoned in tourist resorts which close at the end of the summer season

7. Cats multiplying out of control

8. Tiny kittens abandoned and hungry

9. Sick cats and dogs

10. Cats making a mess in private or public places

What we do depends on the circumstances of each case:

1. We check the details of the situation, as far as we can, by visiting the place, and/or by making inquiries with local people

2. We contact the relevant authorities: the local Warden, local Vet, Veterinary Inspectors and/or Police

3. We take lost dogs to the Vet to check whether they are micro-chipped

4. We try to locate the owners of loose, roaming dogs

5. We try to find ways of influencing owners who keep their dogs in bad conditions

6. When possible, we take in abandoned dogs and try to find them homes

7. If necessary, we take unwanted dogs to the No-kill Animal Shelter (Animalis Centrum) in Kaštela near Split, which has an excellent success rate in finding them homes, and keeps us informed about the status of dogs from the island

8. As much as we can, we support other Charities and individuals working for animal welfare

9. We encourage cat and dog owners to have their pets sterilized

10. We encourage dog and cat owners to clean up after their animals (and other people's if necessary)

11. We try to help street cats, by working on local solutions for those in need of food and care

12.We encourage and support individuals who want to help animals in need as much as we can

13. We take sick dogs or cats to the Vet, if possible

14. We inform the people who have contacted us about animals in need so that they understand the relevant laws which govern the situation; we explain what action we have taken (or why we have been unable to do anything), and what the outcome has been (if any)

Rescued puppy examined by Vet Dr. Mirej. Photo: Vivian Grisogono — *Rescued puppy examined by Vet Dr. Mirej, February 2018. Photo: Vivian Grisogono*

VETERINARY SURGERIES ON hVAR

Hvar Town; Specijalistička praksa za male životinje. Address: Šime Buzolić Tome 15a, Hvar, Croatia; Tel 021 880 022. On Facebook; email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Stari Grad: Veterinarska ambulanta Lota Stari Grad. Address: Put Rudine 3, Stari Grad, Croatia. Tel: 021 244 337. On Facebook. email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

HELP IS ALWAYS NEEDED!

As there is no Animal Shelter for unwanted dogs or cats on the island, we are very limited in what we can do. However, the revised Law on Animal Protection (Zakon o zaštiti životinja NN 102 /2017) which came into force in October 2017 has made a difference: local authorities are now obliged to take greater action for animal welfare. This has helped the work of Charities like ours. In particular, we have benefited from the excellent services provided by the Bestie Foundation which is responsible for the Animalis Centrum Animal Shelter in Kaštel Sućurac. Much remains to be done, so please support us, in whatever way you can! In 2024 a special appeal is being launched in aid of the Bestie Foundation:

Twelve good reasons to help the Bestie Animal Protection Foundation

PLEASE DONATE!

Details for donations:

Via the bank:
Zaklada Bestie
Kukuljevićeva 1, 21000 Split
Otp banka
IBAN: HR9324070001100371229
SWIFT: OTPVHR2X

Paypal donate button: https://www.paypal.me/ZakladaBestie

Related items

More in this category: « Dogs: how to help when needed

For the Good of All!

Better Ways

Nature Watch

Highlights

About Animals

Forum items

Notices

Poisons Beware!

Donations

Donations can be made in euros, pounds sterling, US and Australian dollars and Swiss francs. All donations, however small, are very welcome. We acknowledge donations by email if we have the donor's address. Please let us know if you require a formal paper receipt.

PLEASE NOTE OUR NEW BANK DETAILS:

ECO HVAR BANK DETAILS

OTP banka d.d. Split, Domovinskog rata 61, 21000 Split;

Poslovnica Jelsa, 21465 Jelsa.

IBAN HR7024070001100727245; BIC OTPVHR2X
Account name: ECO HVAR

Account address: Pitve 93, 21465 Jelsa, Croatia

If the payment slip has a box for 'further details' or 'further information' you should enter the Charity's OIB: 14009858487, and state 'donation' or 'donacija'.

About The Site

The site contains articles and information on topics related to health, the environment and animal welfare.

While the focus is on Hvar Island in Dalmatia, much of the information is relevant to the rest of Croatia, and some to Europe, the United States and the rest of the world.

The main language of the site is English, but articles in Croatian are being added as quickly as possible. Some of the Croatian articles are translations, some original. Book reviews are in the language of the publication being reviewed.

To see all the articles archived in each category, click on the category name which is given below the title of each article (Environment, Highlights, Notices etc).

For further relevant news items and bits of interesting information, please refer to our Facebook page.

Thanks

We are very grateful to Željka Horvat Kozulić for kindly and expertly designing the ECO HVAR logo, also to Jelena Bunčuga, Petra Mimica, Bartul Mimica, Ivana Župan, Dinka Barbić and Josip Vlainić for their generous help in translating articles into Croatian.

Special thanks are also owed to Mihael Magdić of Orion Informatika i Trgovina, Varaždin, for his excellent and patient efforts in designing the website.

Eco Environment News feeds

‘Like fly-tipping’: ministers ignoring pleas to cut sludge fertiliser use

Exclusive: Defra warned three years ago of farmland contamination by water firms’ sewage-derived product
Government ministers have ignored Environment Agency pleas to tighten rules on the use of sludge fertiliser for three years, despite the regulator having said that water company attitudes towards the substance are “akin to fly-tipping on to agricultural land”, it can be revealed.
Sludge, sometimes referred to as biosolids, is a byproduct of the sewage treatment process that is sold by water companies to farmers as a low-cost fertiliser.
Continue reading...
As the flood risk rises around the world, what can we do to adapt?

Thousands of people are killed each year by floods – and climate breakdown is making them more likely
Deluges of water are washing away people, homes and livelihoods as extreme rains make rivers burst their banks and high seas help send storm tides surging over coastal walls. How dangerous is flooding – and what can we do to keep ourselves safe?
Continue reading...
Melting glaciers and ice caps could unleash wave of volcanic eruptions, study says

Research in Chile suggests climate crisis makes eruptions more likely and explosive, and warns of Antarctica risk
The melting of glaciers and ice caps by the climate crisis could unleash a barrage of explosive volcanic eruptions, a study suggests.
The loss of ice releases the pressure on underground magma chambers and makes eruptions more likely. This process has been seen in Iceland, an unusual island that sits on a mid-ocean tectonic plate boundary. But the research in Chile is one of the first studies to show a surge in volcanism on a continent in the past, after the last ice age ended.
Continue reading...
‘If you hear your town is scum all the time that sinks in’: the young people in Blackpool refusing to be written off

The seaside resort has become a byword for coastal deprivation but its youth say there’s a world of creativity bubbling under
- Photographs by Polly Braden
Michael knows exactly how he feels about his home town of Blackpool. “It’s just brilliant,” he says. Walking along the beachfront past people soaking up the sunshine on benches and kids playing in the sand overlooked by Blackpool Tower, he throws out his arms with a huge grin. “For me, it has been an amazing place to grow up. I don’t understand why anyone would talk down their home town. If you feel shit about your town, you’re going to feel shit about yourself, right?”
Michael’s life may be going places – he’s studying fashion at college, is making music and has a part-time job entertaining visitors at the Sea Life aquarium – but he knows his positivity about Blackpool isn’t shared by his peers in the town.
Michael in the Sea Life aquarium, where he works part-time
Continue reading...
‘Could become a death spiral’: scientists discover what’s driving record die-offs of US honeybees

Experts scrambling to understand losses in hives across the country are finally identifying the culprits. And the damage to farmed bees is a sign of trouble for wild bees too
Bret Adee is one of the largest beekeepers in the US, with 2 billion bees across 55,000 hives. The business has been in his family since the 1930s, and sends truckloads of bees across the country from South Dakota, pollinating crops such as almonds, onions, watermelons and cucumbers.
Last December, his bees were wintering in California when the weather turned cold. Bees grouped on top of hives trying to keep warm. “Every time I went out to the beehive there were less and less,” says Adee. “Then a week later, there’d be more dead ones to pick up … every week there is attrition, just continually going down.”
Continue reading...
Country diary: As I cycle along, it feels as if each yellowhammer is handing me on to the next | Ed Douglas

Kelso, Roxburghshire:It’s rare I hear this delightful bunting at home, but here in the Borders their numbers suggest farmers are doing the right things
Staying still and attentive are thought to be essential to appreciate nature. Whereas I, cycling west on quiet lanes outside Kelso, was neither. Somewhere to my left was the Tweed. Somewhere further left lay the Cheviot Hills. Far to my right were the Lammermuirs. Between these ranges lies some of the best arable land in the Borders, land worth fighting for, and with castles to prove it. None of this was on my mind. I was too blissed out on the cool air of early morning meeting my face at just the right speed.
Then something began to percolate. A sound chipping away at my inattention. I knew that sound, that insistent one-tone crescendo, the “little bit of bread” of a yellowhammer, with its final cheesy payoff. It’s a song that, unlike many others, extends deep into summer. Yet there was something unusual about it, something I couldn’t immediately place. Then the penny dropped. I was covering a kilometre every four or five minutes, but at no stage for a considerable time had I stopped hearing a yellowhammer.
Continue reading...
Weedkiller ingredient widely used in US can damage organs and gut bacteria, research shows

Diquat is banned in the UK, EU, China and other countries. The US has resisted calls to regulate it
The herbicide ingredient used to replace glyphosate in Roundup and other weedkiller products can kill gut bacteria and damage organs in multiple ways, new research shows.
The ingredient, diquat, is widely employed in the US as a weedkiller in vineyards and orchards, and is increasingly sprayed elsewhere as the use of controversial herbicide substances such as glyphosate and paraquat drops in the US.
Continue reading...
Farmers turned soldiers, fields full of mines and a rural exodus: how Russia is punishing Ukraine’s countryside

Agriculture is woven into Ukrainian culture, but daily attacks, a loss of workers and land contamination are tearing the industry apart
In a field outside the eastern Ukraine city of Sumy, Mykola Mondrayev, 55, is moving the wreckage of a Russian drone. A pickup truck stands nearby, mounted with a gun, the only defence against the deadly unmanned aerial devices.
Three days a week, Mondrayev serves with a territorial defence unit. The other days he works his fields.
Continue reading...
‘A Trojan horse’: how toxic sewage sludge became a threat to the future of British farming

Sludge used as fertiliser on farmland contains harmful chemicals that scientists suspect are entering food chain
For decades, sewage sludge has been quietly spread across Britain’s farmland, marketed as a nutrient-rich fertiliser. But insiders and scientists warn that hidden within it is a mix of household and industrial chemicals such as Pfas (“forever chemicals”), pharmaceuticals, pesticides, hormone-damaging chemicals and microplastics, threatening the long-term health of the land.
Every year, 768,000 tonnes of this byproduct of wastewater treatment is spread over 150,000 hectares of agricultural land in England. The practice is banned in some countries, such as Switzerland, but in the UK it continues with little scrutiny and has become a covert route for dumping toxic industrial waste, experts say.
Continue reading...
Floods are swallowing their village. Trump’s EPA cut a major lifeline for them and others

The administration has wiped over $2.7bn in climate grants, hitting underserved communities across the US the hardest
This story was originally published by Floodlight
Acre by acre, the village of Kipnuk is falling into the river.
Continue reading...

Eco Health News feeds

Resident doctors vote to strike in England

The doctors' union says it will seek fresh talks with ministers before setting strike days.
First malaria treatment for babies approved for use

Until now, there had only been drugs for older children which carried an overdose risk for the young.
Jessie J reveals cancer operation success

Singer says tests following surgery to remove her breast show no spread of the disease
Ketamine helped me escape my negative thoughts - then it nearly killed me

Young people are taking dangerous amounts of ket because it's cheap, easily available and helps them "disconnect", experts say.
The sale of illegal cigarettes signals a deeper problem with UK high streets

Some black market cigarettes have been found to contain dead flies and asbestos. But the trade nods to a wider issue, a BBC investigation has found.
Seven ways Starmer's plan could change the NHS

The BBC looks at what the government's 10-year NHS plan could mean in practice.
Women poisoned by fake Botox get apology from beautician

As the BBC names a beautician who gave illegal jabs, two victims share their story.
What does hot weather do to the body?

Hot weather during the summer can affect anyone, but some people run a greater risk of serious harm.
Why are pollen levels making hay fever so bad this year?

As pollen levels rise, what are the best ways to treat hay fever symptoms, and other useful advice.
What to do if you think someone has heat exhaustion or heatstroke

Know the signs and what to do if someone is unwell in hot weather.

Eco Nature News feeds

A climate ally needs support — but at what cost?

A Conservation International study finds key detail on restoring the world’s mangroves: a price tag.
Can a new paper defuse climate infighting?

To fix climate, all the tools need to be on the table, experts say.
Can Mongolia’s oldest traditions survive a changing climate?

For thousands of years, Mongolian nomads have herded across the country’s vast steppe grassland. But as Mongolia warms more than three times faster than the global average, their future is in question.
New protected area a win for Amazonian wildlife, people

After more than a decade of work led by Indigenous communities, one of the most unique corners of Amazonia has been officially protected by the Peruvian government.
To save a dying forest, this town dug in

Years ago, construction of a road cut off the flow of water to a mangrove forest in Mexico, depriving these coast-hugging trees of what they need to thrive and proving deadly for wildlife. But look closely today, and signs of life are beginning to reappear.
Indonesia halts mining in treasured islands

A jewel of the “Coral Triangle” just got a reprieve as Indonesia announced it revoked the mining permits of four companies operating in one of the most biodiverse marine ecosystems on Earth.
High seas treaty ‘a long time coming’

UN gathering boosts hopes for sealing deal to protect open ocean, Conservation International expert says.
Hawai‘i passes landmark tourist fee to fight climate change

Hawai‘i lawmakers passed a groundbreaking bill that will impose a small tax on visitors in an effort to protect the islands from the growing risks of a warming planet.
News spotlight: Can atolls survive sea-level rise?

Across the Indian and Pacific oceans, tiny atolls are facing an existential crisis. But not all islands are equally vulnerable — it comes down to ecosystem health.
In age of extinction, ‘we need your creativity’

“We need your creativity, we need your skills, we need your decency, we need your commitment to healing our planet,” said CEO M. Sanjayan during the commencement address at William & Mary.

ECO HVAR: AIMS AND ACTIVITIES OF THE CHARITY

Environment

Health

Animals