Animal shelter

"Dog pound" redirects here. For the rap group, see Tha Dogg Pound. For the Cleveland Browns cheering section, see Dawg Pound. For the film, see Dog Pound (film). For the neighborhood known as Dogpound, see Brookhaven, Fresno, California.

Outdoor kennel runs at a shelter
Indoor dog kennels at a shelter
A dog at an animal shelter
A cat at an animal shelter

An animal shelter or pound is a place where stray, lost, abandoned or surrendered animals – mostly dogs and cats – are housed. The word "pound" has its origins in the animal pounds of agricultural communities, where stray livestock would be penned or impounded until they were claimed by their owners.

While no-kill shelters exist, it is sometimes policy to euthanize animals that are not claimed quickly enough by a previous or new owner. In Europe, of the 30 countries included in a survey, all but six (Austria,[1] the Czech Republic,[2] Germany, Greece, Italy and Poland[3]) permitted euthanizing non-adopted animals.[4]

Animal shelter for found animals in Raahe, Finland
  1. ^ Unternehmensberatung, ADVOKAT. "§ 6 TSchG (Tierschutzgesetz), Verbot der Tötung - JUSLINE Österreich". www.jusline.at. Archived from the original on 16 October 2019. Retrieved 16 October 2019.
  2. ^ "246/1992 Coll. LAW Czech National Council to protect animals against cruelty (paragraph 13)". portal.gov.cz. Archived from the original on 17 May 2017. Retrieved 3 January 2017.
  3. ^ "Polish Animal Protection (Amendment) Act 1997" (PDF). sejm.gov.pl. 28 March 2000.
  4. ^ Tasker, Louisa. "Stray Animal Control Practices (Europe)" (PDF). World Society for the Protection of Animals and RSPCA International. p. 18. Archived (PDF) from the original on 26 November 2019. Retrieved 24 August 2020 – via Stray Animal Foundation Platform.