Ziro and Mike spent their whole lives in happy homes. For both of them, water, food and having their owners nearby was all they needed. Each lived alone with their elderly owners as one another's only company.
They did not know each other, did not walk the same streets, but at the end of their lives they shared the same home: SOS Animal Portugal. In both cases, the owners left no document indicating what should happen to their pets; most likely they did not realise they could. Their future was therefore decided by a relative who chose to leave them on the street.
Ziro wandered the streets of Setúbal, was run over and beaten, and was left with serious injuries to his mouth.
Mike was a ticking time bomb: a heart disease dictated his daily life and, despite the best efforts of the neighbours, friends of his owner, they could not help him in the way he needed. He stayed at SOS Animal until he died. Ziro is still at the association, waiting to be adopted.
Is animal abandonment punishable in Portugal?
