Bochum.
There is great concern at the Bochum animal shelter because of the significantly increased costs. “The situation is not hopeless, but unfortunately serious.”
“The situation is not hopeless, but unfortunately it is serious.” The Bochum animal shelter is facing even greater financial challenges than usual. It must be assumed that “our energy costs will triple during this heating period,” says the facility on Kleinherbeder Strasse .
And further: “We fear that the exploding costs will lead to the charitable animal welfare not only reaching its limits in our city.” This also means the help, accommodation and placement of animals in emergencies. “We are a bit bleak about the future. For years we have only been able to financially support the animal shelter with the help of our animal-loving supporters.” It is difficult to overcome the problem of rising costs on your own, especially since “the willingness to donate is understandably declining in today’s poor economic situation”.
Running costs have increased significantly in 2022
In 2021, the animal shelter had running costs of 880,000 euros: for wages and salaries with ancillary costs, repairs and maintenance, cleaning, energy, water, vehicles, veterinarians, food, pet accessories such as cat litter “and much more”. The number for 2022 is not yet available, but it will be significantly higher than the year before, as board member Nina Schmidt of the WAZ says.
The increased minimum wage from October 2022 (twelve euros) for some animal keepers has also put a further strain on the cash situation in the animal shelter, according to Nina Schmidt. The animal welfare association in Bochum, Hattingen and the surrounding area, which runs the animal shelter, has introduced an in-house tariff for them which, depending on how long they have been with the company, is above the minimum wage. The animal protection association employs a total of 18 people.
For example, the cost of animal feed has also increased, as have fees for external veterinary treatment.
Dog house 4 has to be rebuilt due to construction defects
Another problem: The dog house 4, which is only a good ten years old, has to be completely renovated due to massive construction defects as a result of botched construction. That should happen this year. However, there is still no building permit. Time is of the essence: two trees have to be felled for the new building, but the nature conservation law only allows this until the end of February.
The new kennel 4 will cost around 1.3 million euros. The animal shelter hopes for funding, a large part is to be financed by donations and inheritances – as with the construction of the urgently needed small animal house, which opened in August 2021 (also 1.3 million euros).
“Front and back” is missing the money
The three other dog houses would also have to be “urgently” renovated and/or converted in order to enable animal-friendly accommodation; especially since the old kennels do not have any energy efficiency. For such necessities, however, “there is a lack of money both in front and behind”.
There is now at least a financial improvement on the part of the city of Bochum. This has increased its financial injection for the years 2023 and 2024 from 371,000 euros to 541,000 euros so that the animal shelter takes care of found animals and seizures of animals (e.g. in the case of poor animal husbandry) from Bochum.
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