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Amsterdam provides pet treatments to residents with low income
The Dutch city of Amsterdam, led by mayor Femke Halsema, has already helped 20.000 city’s residents by providing free vet surgery treatments for their sick pets.
Since 2016, the Amsterdam Animal Aid Aan Minima (ADAM) scheme has benefited 20,000 pets with a free consultation, chip, or sterilization at a veterinarian, it was announced on the official website of the city of Amsterdam.
Amsterdam residents with low income were often forced to postpone taking their pets to the vet which could significantly worsen their health or even endanger their lives. For this reason, numerous pet owners were sometimes also forced to leave their pets behind. To overcome this, ADAM scheme was set up.
City’s alderman for animal welfare Jakob Wedermeijer stated on social media: “Since 2016, people who don’t have enough money can get help from the municipality if their pet has to go to the vet. The Animal Ambulance issues vouchers on behalf of the municipality in relation to the Amsterdamse Dierenhulp aan Minima (ADAM).”
“Today I was allowed to hand out the 20,000th voucher in Stadsdeel East. It’s great that we can contribute so actively to animal welfare,” alderman Weidermeijer concluded.
The ADAM scheme is implemented by Dierenambulance Amsterdam on behalf of the municipality, and vouchers are issued to anyone with a Stadspas upon request. Amsterdam’s Stadpas allows the city’s residents with a low income to get a special discount for a wide range of activities or services which are provided by participating organizations.
In January 2016, the ADAM scheme was launched as a trial. The project has been restructured as of 2019 to ensure that as many pets as possible could be helped. Cats and dogs must be chipped and properly registered in order to participate in the program.
For Amsterdam’s residents who have low income, chipping and registration is also fully reimbursed. Since 2013, all dogs in the Netherlands have been required to be microchipped and registered in a government-approved database. (photo credit: amsterdam.nl)
