UDINE. The great attention and great sensitivity towards animals and in particular of pets that the community of Friuli Venezia Giulia demonstrates, together with a concrete synergy of intentions between the world of volunteering and the institutions, has allowed the creation of a structure for the reception for dogs and cats among the most important in the Northeast.
These are the words chosen by the deputy governor of Friuli Venezia Giulia, Riccardo Riccardi, who spoke on the afternoon of Sunday 25 September at the inauguration of the new park refuge of the National Animal Protection Authority (ENPA) of Udine.
A ceremony, directed by the president of the Udine section of Enpa, Elena Riggi, and completed with the traditional blessing of animals by Don Paolo Brida.
The Refuge Park for dogs and cats named after Ada Malignani has been inaugurated in Udine
The exponent of the regional council also recalled the law on animal welfare that has regulated the sector, “favoring the protection of four-legged friends”.
In particular, he stressed the importance of “networking to achieve important objectives together, recalling the commitment of the Region which has allocated 1.2 million euros for this project in several installments”.
In thanking the volunteers of Enpa Udine for their great commitment, Riccardi added that “the Region will not fail to support laudable initiatives such as the one that was crowned with the cutting of the ribbon, here in Udine”.
Born as “Rifugio del Cane” (first in the province of Udine) in the seventies of the last century, today the Enpa Refuge Park is home to about sixty dogs and about 35 cats (with a capacity of about 200 dogs and 80 cats).
Thanks to the contributions of the Region and those of private benefactors it was possible to build a structure that replaces the original dilapidated one, with the transfer from number 42 in via Gonars to number 107 of the same street.
With the contribution provided by the Region, Enpa Udine has created the new pavilions for dogs, catteries and the office building. Thanks to donations from private individuals, a large park has been created.
The new structure, inaugurated with the blessing of Don Paolo Brida, was designed according to the contemporary standards of animal welfare: large boxes for dogs, with a space each of about 46 square meters (higher than that required by law), underfloor heating (also for the cattery sector), open areas for dogs to walk around, protected green areas for cats.
A structure, therefore, that allows to manage in an optimal way the reception of animals which, over the years, has become longer in terms of time. The new Enpa Refuge Park, completed in its new form in December of last year, collaborates with 30 municipalities, mostly in the province of Udine, for the reception, custody and health management of the animals. Here they are lovingly followed, with the availability of about forty volunteers, dogs refused because they are no longer desired, for bites, for the death of the owners, for changed conditions of the adoptive family.
20% of the dogs welcomed are linked to a judicial custody service: that is, abused dogs are followed on the orders of the judiciary, then placed under sequestration. The service reserved for cats mostly concerns feline friends to be assisted at the health level, for accidents, for conditions of malnutrition and other health problems.