February the 19th, 2024 – Have you ever heard of Azil Dumovec? Zagreb’s bus drivers have, and any injured or unwell animals they come across get a free ride there for rehabilitation and care.
As Marc Rowlands writes, Zagreb bus driver Dario Buzjak was making his final run from Velika Gorica back to the city terminal when he noticed something unusual lying in the road. Saturday night had already turned to Sunday morning on this particular late November evening. Yet, despite the lateness of the hour, the cold and bad weather, Dario postponed clocking off to stop and take a closer look.
As he got nearer, Dario could tell the owl was injured. So, to make sure she wouldn’t be run over by another driver, he carefully picked her up. After placing her in the footwell of his bus, he started back on his journey to the station.
But, what to do next? Just who does a Zagreb bus driver contact when he finds an injured owl in the road?
Luckily, Dario Buzjak knew exactly what to do. He called Azil Dumovec.
“Dario knew about us because he adopted one of our dogs a few years ago,” says Tatjana Zajec, manager of Azil Dumovec. Based on the eastern outskirts of Zagreb, it is Croatia’s first and largest municipality-owned animal shelter. “After he made sure it was safe inside the bus, he called us immediately. We took the call here and sent out one of our animal welfare responders.”
If there’s an emergency involving an animal in Zagreb, Azil Dumovec is the first point of call. In fact, if someone phones 112 (the general emergency line) about an animal, the operator will make an assessment and, if warranted, transfer the caller to Azil Dumovec.
“On average, we take around 60 calls per day,” says Tatjana, as she shows Total Croatia News around their operations in Dumovec. Cats wander freely around the shelter’s offices. Outside, a long line of excited dogs – temporary visitors waiting to be adopted. “Around 10 of those calls will be about wildlife. The others will be about domesticated animals and could come from members of the public, neighbours, the police or social services.”
“They’re not always calling about dogs and cats. We are asked to come to collect pigs, ducks, geese and chickens, even though you’re not really supposed to be keeping such animals when you live within city limits. Also sheep. In fact, we had one sheep just last week. She was tied to a tree in a city park. The police called us. But, by the time we got there a guy had arrived from the local pub and claimed it as his sheep. He’d tied it up in the park while he went for a drink.”
When Azil Dumovec are contacted about an animal emergency, their phone operators must decide what to do. If the call is about a regular domesticated house pet, like a dog or a cat, the animal is brought to the centre in Dumovec, checked by their vets and given a temporary home until a new one is found. If the call is about a more exotic or wild animal, Azil Dumovec will send out a responder to collect it and take it to the Wildlife Rehabilitation section of Zagreb Zoo. The other option is to transfer the animal to AWAP (Association for Wild Animals Protection), a charity rescue centre for confiscated and injured protected animals.
“We deal with bats, badgers, beavers, deer, snakes, you name it,” says Tatjana. “Occasionally we even see some venomous snakes like poskok (Horned viper – Vipera ammodytes). Usually, they live in the area of Medvednica. But, several times we’ve been called to remove them from Zagreb houses. They crawl into basements and sometimes cars to escape from bad weather.”
“A lot of the calls we get are because wild animals share parts of the city with people,” she says. “And, many of the people who live here just don’t understand it. They don’t know what to do. For instance, they might have a bird or a bat that makes a home for itself on their balcony. Or they might be startled by the sight of a family of foxes living on the embankment. We know one deer who likes to come to an area near Cibona Tower, very close to the city centre. He comes every year. I think it’s maybe a student accommodation place. We always have so many calls about him.”
Sandrino, Tatjana’s co-worker shakes his head. A veteran worker at the shelter, Sandrino used to work outside with the animals. Now, he answers the phone in the call centre.
“This is cleaner,” he tells TCN of his new position. “But, honestly, it’s better to work outside with the dogs.”
Why?
“Different kinds of people call you,” he says. His emphasis is on the word ‘different’. He’s being polite.
“Well, it’s a big town,” he adds, with a shrug and a smile. “One guy found an injured pigeon. We had to send it to AWAP. He asked “Can I come to visit him?”, like it is some kind of hospital with visiting times.” Sandrino laughs.
Tatjana herself has also seen her role change significantly during her time here. Originally, she graduated as a veterinary doctor. But, since joining Azil Dumovec, she’s become shelter manager and helped them shape Croatian law and embrace the social media revolution.
“Actually, we took some inspiration from the UK,” she recalls. “After graduation, I contacted the RSPCA and the Dog’s Trust to learn how they did things. Thereafter we became a ‘no kill’ shelter. Our next step was to lead the call for our Animal Welfare Law in Croatia to be changed. We succeeded and after that, all Croatia’s shelters became ‘no kill’, like us.”
In the hours following Dario Buzjak’s owl discovery, it seemed like half of Zagreb knew about his story. Photos of the owl taking a ride on Dario’s Zagreb bus hit Facebook and Instagram first. The next day, TV and newspaper reporters were dispatched to Zagreb Zoo where they interviewed Dario visiting his new friend.
“Today, our social media accounts are a very important part of our communications,” says Tajana. “We dedicate quite a lot of time to them – posting photos, getting the stories and following up. But, in the end, it’s totally worth it. These social media channels are the reason we have the highest rehoming rates in Croatia. We rehome over 1000 animals every year.”
You can find out more about Azil Dumovec from their website here, their Facebook here or their Instagram here
All images: Azil Dumovec
