The Famalicão Animal Collection Centre has launched the campaign ‘Think outside the box: lives cannot be wrapped up’, with the aim of warning of the risks of impulsive adoption during the Christmas season. In this context, adoptions will be suspended between 14 December and 1 January.  

The initiative aims to stop the giving of animals as Christmas gifts, a practice that continues to result in a significant increase in returns after the festivities every year.

‘Adoption should be a conscious and lasting act, never a decision made on impulse. An animal is a life companion, not an object that can be wrapped up and returned,’ says Mário Passos, Mayor of the City Council, who considers this ‘an essential and necessary measure’.

The mayor also stresses that the municipality will continue to invest in animal protection by ‘ensuring that every adopted animal finds a responsible and permanent family’.

During this period, CROA will remain open to provide information and monitor future adoption processes, which will resume in early January.