Occasionally, private organizations publish varying figures about animal abandonment in the country, figures that should be considered in any discussion. The issue is not a reflection of careless work by these groups; rather, they undertake thorough efforts, devoting substantial human and financial resources to the task. The real challenge lies in obtaining reliable data on this topic within the country.
One likely reason is the limited structure of animal protection efforts today. When a person finds an animal in Spain without a microchip, many times the animal is assumed to be abandoned right away. Some cases even involve mistaken labels where a chipped animal turns out later to have been lost rather than abandoned.
There is also the problem that certain abandoned animals, those placed with unregistered foster homes or shelters, do not register in official counts. Some centers, some well known and sometimes coordinating with police or local authorities, collect animals without their data appearing in any formal record.
Thus, and based on the cooperation of authorized centers that aggregate data on abandoned animals in national studies, the national picture can be far from the reality. The situation is troubling because in order to gauge the severity of the problem and to shape effective laws, it is essential to understand the issue in full and respond accordingly. It is also notable that private institutions have taken the lead in this area while the government has not always conducted these studies directly. This may reflect structural priorities or political considerations that place voting-driven measures ahead of actionable solutions. It seems there are competing motives at play, with the data reality often lagging behind public rhetoric.