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18 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 26 APRIL 2026 FEATURE With dog shelters at full capacity, no central THE Animal Welfare Secretariat has admitted it does not hold basic data on the number of dogs in shelters despite having publicly committed to tackling shelter overcrowding. The secretariat was unable to provide statistics on the number of dogs that have been euthanised, and whether abandonment rates are rising or falling. There is no central repository of sta- tistics on abandoned animals, which makes it hard to have a full picture. The only information comes from the indi- vidual shelters run by voluntary organ- isations, which do not necessarily keep track of the numbers. In response to questions sent by Mal- taToday, the secretariat said the infor- mation on shelter populations, adop- tion figures, and abandonment trends "concern the operations of non-govern- mental organisations and independent sanctuaries". A spokesperson said rele- vant records are held by the NGOs and other third parties rather than by the central government. The admission came after Animal Welfare Parliamentary Secretary Alicia Bugeja Said commented during a radio programme that Malta's six sanctuaries and welfare facilities are at full capac- ity and that a plan to relocate around 20 dogs to a facility in Naples had been abandoned following an inspection. To get a clearer picture of the situa- tion on the ground, MaltaToday vis- ited the Association for Abandoned Animals sanctuary in Ħal Far, where around 80 dogs are housed, most of them large crossbreeds collected from fields or handed in by owners who no longer wanted them. Rosalind Agius, the sanctuary manag- er, said the volume of abandonments is far beyond what shelters can manage. "The number of abandonments is much larger than the rate at which we are managing to keep up. Anyone who says we have it under control is lying," she said. Most of the dogs at AAA are field dogs, crossbreeds collected by the Animal Welfare Directorate, including puppies found abandoned in fields. The sanctu- ary maintains a waiting list for animals it cannot immediately take in, giving priority to strays found on the streets over pets surrendered by owners. Agius said the shelter's biggest chal- lenge is rehoming large dogs, those over 30kg, whose adoption rate is sig- nificantly slower than that of smaller breeds. "We can put a small dog on Facebook today, and it will be homed tomorrow. The problem is the large dogs," she said. Agius walked MaltaToday through the stories behind some of the dogs cur- rently in the sanctuary's care. Ruby has been at AAA for six years, arriving with no fur and has since recovered, but re- mains in the sanctuary. Zeus was adopt- ed from Sicily, subsequently abused, and ended up at AAA. Aaron, a pit bull cross now two and a half years old, has been at the sanctuary since birth, His mother was found pregnant outside, gave birth to seven puppies at the shel- ter, and all his siblings were eventually rehomed. Some dogs, Agius noted, are not available for adoption at all due to behavioural issues and are likely to re- main at the sanctuary indefinitely. Intake rate higher than rehoming In January, the shelter rehomed 40 dogs, it was a record for a single month. This month, the figure stood at around 13. Agius said intake numbers roughly repeat themselves month on month, but the flow of abandonments consistently outpaces the rate of rehoming. She said a common problem is owners JULIANA ZAMMIT jzammit@mediatoday.com.mt Rosalind Agius, the sanctuary manager at AAA and some of the dogs sheltered at their premises in Hal Far (Photos by James Bianchi/MaltaToday)