According to current legislation, all abandoned animals in a city are the responsibility of the city council. Therefore, municipalities are directly or indirectly responsible for their collection.
To do this, most city councils have their own facilities for the reception of these animals, sometimes managed by the city hall itself, and others contracted with a private company or a protective association in the area. It may also be the case that these facilities belong to private organizations or NGOs.
Another very common way to manage this collection is through associations. These supra-municipal organizations combine several municipalities in service delivery so that the cost charged to each is lower. This happens, first of all, in small municipalities.
A similar formula is used in some provinces of Spain and the service is provided from the Provincial Councils either for all municipalities or only for those with a population of less than 5,000.
However, there are still many municipalities that do not have any services for this collection. And do not think that a neighbor who is willing to keep the animal until the owner appears is always the smallest, it is often municipalities that do not comply due to bureaucratic problems, management or simply laziness. actually with this obligation from July 1, 1927. At that time, the Spanish government imposed an obligation to collect abandoned animals on public roads, with Zaragoza being the first municipality to do so.
A lot has happened since then, as they say. Society has evolved and no doubt the mentality of the people, although abandonment and abuse remain constant. Therefore, being able to rely on good animal collection services 24 hours a day, every day of the year is essential to their protection.