Homeless people in the Brazilian city of Canoas don’t have to leave their dogs out in the cold when they want to spend a night inside a shelter. Officials created a special shelter at a school where people can bring their dogs as temperatures have lowered in the city.
“Many times, they (homeless people) prefer not to stay in a shelter to not abandon their pets. So we are facing the need to accommodate not only homeless people but also their pets,” Fabiane Tomazi Borba from Canoa’s Animal Welfare Special Secretary said.
The shelter can host up to 150 people per day. When they enter, people receive an amenity kit and are provided with breakfast and dinner, and their pets get a veterinary check-up.
“Pets have their parasites cleansed, they are vaccinated, and if they aren’t castrated, they’re taken to be castrated. They can spend time here with their people, sleep warm,” Fabiane said, adding that the “perspective is to take care of the humans and the animals.”
“If I could not stay at the shelter, I would take them (dogs) to sleep with me. They sleep with me in the street,” Gilson Machado de Lima, who is homeless and has two dogs, said.
