Since 2020, the Law of Property Code has explicitly recognized that animals are not mere objects but living, sentient beings. Nevertheless, awareness of their needs remains insufficient, as reflected in numerous cases of abandonment, neglect, and abuse.
The thesis examines the assumption that the field of animal protection and welfare in Slovenia is underfunded from public sources. It analyses sources, methods, amounts, and proportions of funding for organizations in this field, with particular attention to revenues from public funds. Animal protection organizations require financial resources to increase awareness, carry out prevention and education, prevent animal abuse, and support animal shelters.
The amounts of societies' revenues by source, particularly from public funds, were collected from publicly available data. For the three societies surveyed, the content of their projects was also examined in more detail based on internal documents. Interviews were conducted as well.
The findings reveal that the co-financing of animal protection societies from public funds is minimal or almost non-existent. In 2023, all non-governmental organizations in Slovenia received a total of €617,252,742.97 in public funds, of which animal protection societies received only €59,356.19, representing just 0.0096%. Thus, the field of animal protection is only minimally supported through public funding.
Awareness that animals are sentient beings forms the foundation of an ethical society, to which animal protection societies make an important contribution. Such understanding is fostered through education and activities that raise awareness. To carry out these activities, societies require stable funding, primarily from the state. Therefore, the state should strengthen systemic support and invest significantly more in prevention, as well as in
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