What countries do you not see any animal cruelty or stray dogs/cats etc?

[Havenocluewheretogo]

One thing that has ruined many a holiday for me is seeing strays and/or animal cruelty. I wish I wasn't as sensitive to it but there we are. We've been to the US a lot which isn't usually a problem but in many Mediterranean destinations we've had this problem and I end up upset, feeding them, worrying about them, trying to sort a rescue space when finding them injured. I've pretty much ruled out Greece, Morocco, etc. Thinking of Japan this year which I assume won't be a problem regarding this. Any other ideas? Please don't go into any detail of anything you've seen which was upsetting as I can't even read about it :😢( Thanks

I visited 33 countries last year and I’d say:
Japan - you won’t see any live animals being eaten. That’s at speciality restaurants.
South Korea
Iceland
Ireland
Australia

I literally saw a dog on a barbecue in Vietnam I’m afraid and a lorry full of dogs that were all piled atop each other and howling.

Well I did down the back streets, but I’m inclined to say any animal being BBQ’d is the same issue. Not good on the transport.

33 countries in a YEAR?! How?! … I thought 5 was good going.

Quit my job and spent my savings lol. I was travelling for 12 months straight.

No such place,

If you see them, there's a problem

If you don't, there's a different problem.

Niiiiice, although that’s pretty rapid progression. Dare I ask how much you spent (fantasy travel!)

Spain has made really good laws around animal cruelty for example of there is a family breakup your pets have the same rights as your children

Glad it’s not just me who finds this issue. It genuinely stops me going to so many places because I just can’t cope with it. Whilst in Tenerife I we stayed near a cat rescue and there was a good amount of compassion towards street cats (never saw any street dogs) but I still found myself reaching out to rescues regarding some kittens that had been dumped or were growing up feral and were very hungry, and also found out from a local lady that they do have ‘culls’ of the street cats, but that a local rescue tries to shield the cats from this by taking them in during the cull and then releasing them when it’s safer. In Madeira there were lots of well maintained feeding stations for stray cats and dogs which was brilliant to see, but their attitude towards animals was very different. I saw people kicking and smacking their own dogs, so much so that my partner had to hold me back from intervening as it wasn’t safe to do so. Also saw farm animals tied up with no water or food.

The thing for me is just the attitude of people. There is cruelty everywhere but at least in this country if you saw someone beating a dog you can hopefully bet that passers by would intervene and/or report, whereas in Madeira nobody batted an eyelid as a guy was kicking and screaming at his tiny puppy and I got the feeling that it was normal and not something the authorities would care about. It’s something that stops me going abroad more often because like you, I genuinely can’t cope with it and it ruins my time away

Not so bothered about the bulls though!

I think this is true. And even if you don't see stray cats or dogs you have no idea how farm animals are treated or slaughtered.

But don´t go to the Feroe Islands, you could be in for a shock...

Most regions have banned it now some still sadly not

New Zealand is good; no stray cats/dogs because of protecting the native wildlife.

And yet bestiality is basically legal there.

Together with my husband we spent about £40k. We did it pretty cheap too with some very crappy hotels. And yes, the pace was too fast on reflection and we were exhausted.

I didn't see any stray dogs in Malta last year and the few street cats we saw all looked healthy.

They are also very aware and accommodating of additional needs which made travelling with autistic dc so much easier.

I think our UK notion that cats are either strays or pets doesn't apply in a lot of Mediterranean places. Cats in Mediterranean cultures often don't belong to anyone as a pet but they're not strays or feral either. What happens is that neighbourhoods take responsibility for their care and leave food and water out for them. These cats, unlike our fully feral cats, are often quite friendly towards humans. They're sort of semi-domesticated. We were in Crete last year and nearly all the street cats we saw looked well-fed and healthy. It was a similar situation in Sicily, each restaurant seemed to have a cat or a cat family attached to it, who would be fed scraps by the kitchen staff. One of the highlights for me when we visit Mogan in Gran Canaria is the number of friendly street cats that live happily there. It seems that every corner has its cat that is fed by a nearby restaurant and which is made a fuss of by passers-by. As a family we now tend to gravitate towards places where there are plenty of looked-after street cats, it really adds to the holiday. We went to Lanzarote in October and were lucky enough to have a little cat colony right outside our apartment, who were fed every day by the local restaurants.

No they haven’t. It was briefly banned in Catalonia but overturned as it has cultural protection

In Kotor, Montenegro they consider cats lucky and it’s known as ‘City of Cats’. So the felines are treated well.

In Turkey also they love cats. The restaurants feed them scraps and there were charities caring for the strays. Totally different attitude to Greece, which is distressing in their treatment of cats.

Feeding stray animals is adding to the problem not helping.

You are making them healthy enough to reproduce and thus making more stray animals.

Give to shelters which can neuter instead.

Bargain!

Op I was thinking exactly the same as you, just having had my holiday ruined by feeding starving dogs and seeing the look of terror in an emancipated nursing girl when I tried to feed her. Two weeks later I am still thinking of her.

What time of year were you thinking? I think the answer is you have to go to a wealthy destination.
Forget the Caribbean as the moment you step out of the lovely hotel into the main town, it’s there. It’s heartbreaking.

Yes Canada’s a good call.. especially west.. and a lovely holiday.

I don’t think OP wants horror stories posted just for the sake of it.

I’m similar with animals and have “altered” (my H might choose a different word) many a holiday to take an animal to the vets/rescue/home.

If I ruled out entire countries based on people’s attitudes towards animals then I wouldn’t travel, not even out of the house.

I would say pick an area of a country that you’d like to visit and research it inside out, then do the same for the hotels. This was the only way I was able to visit Thailand and not see any cruelty/unethical practices. For example, when researching hotels, it was very helpful that ignorant ppl shared that they had been on elephant rides or to monkey shows etc, so I could then avoid.