The 17 arrests were made, between 2018 and 2022, by the Public Security Police, which arrested 15 people for mistreatment and two for abandoning pets.

The year with the most arrests for the mistreatment of pets was 2021 when there were six, followed by 2019 and 2022, with four each, and in 2018 one person was arrested.

The PSP indicates that arrests for abandoning animals were made in 2019 and 2020, with one each year.

Data sent to the Lusa indicate that the PSP and the National Republican Guard recorded 9,732 crimes for abandonment or mistreatment of animals between 2018 and 2022.

The PSP also reports that, in five years, it recorded 1,615 crimes of animal abandonment and 2,278 for situations of mistreatment, in a total of 4,402.

While the GNR accounted for 5,330 crimes, 3,385 of which were for mistreatment of animals and 1,945 for abandonment, with this type of crime recorded in 2022 the highest value in the last five years.

The GNR recorded 1,195 crimes for abandonment and mistreatment of pets last year, 1,008 in 2021, 1,030 in 2020, 1,089 in 2019, and 1,008 in 2018.

The PSP, on the other hand, registered a decrease in 2020 and 2021 due to the covid-19 pandemic, having increased again in 2022. Last year, the PSP counted 865 crimes, in 2021 there were 833, in 2020 there were 801, in 2019 there were 952 and in 2018 there were 951.

According to the GNR, dogs are the animals that register the highest incidence of abuse and abandonment and generally the collected animals are delivered to the official collection centers (CRO) under municipal or intermunicipal management, and are also delivered, on certain occasions, to associations.

The GNR also receives complaints, which can be made through the SOS Ambiente e Território line 808 200 520, www.gnr.pt (Serviços/SOSAmbiente) or by email sepna@gnr.pt, registering 20,823 complaints between 2018 and 2022 , after increasing every year it first went down in 2022.

The PSP also has an Animal Defense Line (defesanimal@psp.pt) to receive complaints, having registered 12,175 complaints in the last five years, in a growing trend.