RIO 2016 AND RIO DE JANEIRO CITY HALL TOGETHER ON ADOPTION OF RESCUED ANIMALS FROM VENUES
June 15th, 2016
What to do with the dogs and cats found at Olympic venues? What is the correct procedure and how to take care of them? To put an end to such doubts, the Rio 2016 Games Organising Committee and Rio de Janeiro City Hall created the #AbraceUmAmigo (“Hug a Friend”) campaign for the adoption of abandoned domestic animals found in competition areas. The animals are carefully rescued and taken to rehabilitation at the Model Farm, a SEPDA structure (Department for Protection of Domestic Animals), exclusively for the care of these animals, in Guaratiba, Rio de Janeiro.
Since 2008, the Model Farm has treated animals who have been victims of mistreatment and abandoned in a quarantine period, forwarded by the Secretariat. The space is over 13,000m2, where animals receive care including: veterinary monitoring, vaccines, proper nutrition, sterilisation, examinations and surgeries. After the quarantine period, they are forwarded to the itinerant campaign “Adotar é o Bicho!” and are also available for adoption in the Animal Protection Centre. With the creation of the #AbraçeUmAmigo campaign the recovered creatures, nicknamed “Olympic Animals”, will have the opportunity to receive all this care as well as the possibility of finding new families.
The initiative grew as a result of the demand of abandoned dogs and cats that roam the Games competition areas. A team from Rio 2016, dedicated to sustainability at venues, will take care of animal rescue and in partnership with the Olympic Enterprise Hall, who will take care of their rehabilitation.
The first phase of the campaign began a month ago. In that time, two dogs have been adopted and two others are now in the process of quarantine, to be released shortly for adoption. The campaign is being publicised on Rio 2016 social network channels.
“I love animals and so help voluntarily at the Model Farm. We get a lot of animals there and fell in love with them, but there was an intense connection with the puppy Zeca. A dog is not an object to be treated as a commodity, that’s why I’m against this trade. There are so many pets for adoption. To adopt is to show love! “says Barbara Moronna, the new “mother” of one of the puppies rescued in Deodoro.
Those interested in the adoption of the “Olympic animals” should contact SEPDA on (21) 2976-2932 or go directly to the Model Farm – R. Mato Alto, 5620 (next to the clinic Maia Banerjee), Guaratiba.
The #AbraceUmAmigo campaign will last until October, after the end of the Paralympic Games, rescuing, treating and taking for adoption pets (dogs, cats and even horses and cows) found around Olympic venues.
The #AbraceUmAmigo project is a partner of the project “Adotar é o Bicho”, of the Special Secretariat for the Promotion and Defence of Animals (SEPDA).