Polo Zooantropologico: a new animal shelter in Milan

Lorena Boniardi, veterinarian and president of the Bini Onlus Foundation, the Ark of the Tails, explains:

The new Zooanthropological Center in Settimo Milanese (Municipality of Milan, etc.) is what I have always wanted. One day Antonella Bini, a dear friend with whom the Foundation was born, arrives in my studio and says: “When I die, I will leave you a part of the legacy to animal shelter“. I looked at her and said “but jokes, let’s do it now”. From there it all started and despite the difficulties we never stopped. We created the Foundation whose purpose is to protect the rights of animals, their abuse and the phenomenon of abandonment.And therefore the Zooanthropological Center, a safe haven where animals can live truly serenely, waiting for the achievement of health and welfare conditions that will allow their eventual adoption.

In the new shelter there are volunteers who welcome, sterilize and chip the animals. There are also dog educators who also have a behavioral path, depending on the case. In the end, you can even find families ready to record I trust the animals. The shelter also has other functions such as re-entering abandoned dogs, abused and veterans from other desperate cases. It tries to give the right dog culture with: therapies helped. In addition, the collaboration with schools to help the little ones understand the correct handling of dogs.

The structure that has been opened is very advanced and the technology that has been activated inside is incredible. I think it’s a major modernization of what we still call “kennel”. And not just as spaces, but precisely as conception. The perspective ceases to be that of the concentration camp and becomes that of a rehabilitation center, of re-education in anticipation of a family’s love. I mean it is a context with a lot of attention for animal welfare, where all guests will live well and serenely. My aim is to explain the questions of those present, but also to dispel some myths. Children should be taught that it is okay to respect the dog and parents should also understand that anything the dog allows them will not be allowed to children in the same way.

Elisa Marzola, advisor applied zooanthropology