Pet Adoption Surge in Castelo Branco: 2025 Data for Portugal

The Castelo Branco Animal Collection Center processed more than 1,000 animals in 2025, marking a 21% surge compared to the previous year and underscoring a growing challenge for municipal animal welfare infrastructure across Portugal. The facility handled 1,065 intakes—293 dogs and 772 cats—compared to 881 animals in 2024, while simultaneously managing 1,090 departures, a figure that exceeds arrivals and reflects an aggressive push toward adoption and colony management.

Why This Matters:

• Capacity strain: A new facility under construction will expand capacity from 175 to 260 animals, including 180 dogs and 80 cats, signaling long-term investment in welfare infrastructure.

• Colony returns dominate cat outcomes: 76% of felines were returned to managed colonies after sterilization, a 165% increase since 2023.

• Adoption momentum: 333 adoptions in 2025 represent a 23% year-on-year increase, with dogs and cats adopted almost equally (169 vs. 164).

• Police involvement: Combined, the Portugal National Republican Guard (GNR) and Portugal Public Security Police (PSP) delivered 52% of dogs to the center, highlighting law enforcement's role in animal rescues.

Dogs vs. Cats: Two Distinct Pathways

The data reveal starkly different trajectories for canines and felines within Castelo Branco's animal welfare system.

Dogs arriving at the center come through diverse channels: 40% were captured by municipal teams, 38% handed over by the GNR, 14% by the PSP, and 8% routed directly through city services. Once inside, more than half—53%—found permanent homes through adoption. Another 42% were reunited with their original owners, a figure that suggests many missing pets are successfully tracked. Mortality stood at 3%, while euthanasia accounted for just 2% of departures, reflecting Portugal's 2016 legal prohibition on destroying healthy stray animals.

Cats, by contrast, follow a fundamentally different model. A striking 97% of the 772 felines entering the facility were captured, with only 2% rescued by police and 1% delivered by municipal workers. Rather than adoption, the dominant exit pathway for cats is the Capture-Sterilize-Return (CED) protocol: 76% were returned to managed colonies after surgical intervention. Adoption claimed 21%, while mortality (2%) and owner reclamation (1%) remained marginal. This approach aligns with Portugal's evolving strategy for managing feral cat populations through sterilization rather than indefinite sheltering.

The Colony Equation: Managing Urban Wildlife

The 583 cats returned to colonies in 2025 represent a 34% increase from 2024 and a 165% jump since 2023, when just 220 animals followed this path. The acceleration reflects both growing acceptance of the CED model among Portuguese municipalities and the sheer volume of feline intakes—which climbed from 372 in 2023 to 772 in 2025, an addition of 400 cats in two years.

This approach treats urban cat populations as a managed ecological feature rather than a problem to be warehoused indefinitely. By sterilizing and returning animals to established territories, municipalities aim to stabilize numbers without overwhelming shelter capacity. The model has drawn mixed responses across Portugal, with some cities like Porto and Coimbra regarded as leaders in structured colony management, while others struggle with inconsistent enforcement and public pushback over feeding bans and territorial disputes.

What This Means for Residents

For people living in Castelo Branco and surrounding districts, these figures translate into several practical realities.

First, adoption opportunities are expanding. With 333 successful placements in 2025, the center is processing nearly one adoption per day, and the new facility will further increase availability. Prospective adopters should note that animals leave the center vaccinated and sterilized, reducing immediate veterinary costs.

Second, the GNR and PSP remain primary intake channels for stray or abandoned dogs. Residents who encounter lost or distressed animals should contact these agencies directly; the data show they account for more than half of canine intakes, making them the most reliable route for intervention.

Third, the colony-return program for cats means that sterilized felines will continue to occupy public spaces, parks, and neighborhoods. This is policy, not accident. While some residents may prefer complete removal, the legal framework and municipal strategy prioritize population control over elimination. Feeding these colonies is increasingly regulated—cities including Lisbon, Porto, Cascais, Sintra, and Oeiras have introduced fines for uncontrolled public feeding to balance animal welfare with urban hygiene.

National Context: A Sector Under Strain

Castelo Branco's experience mirrors broader trends. In 2023, Portugal's Official Collection Centers (CROs) nationwide took in more than 31,000 animals—23,080 dogs and 8,019 cats—a figure that has climbed steadily year over year. Nationally, intake volume grew by 3.5% from 2021 to 2022, and preliminary data suggest the trend continued through 2024 and 2025.

Nearly 100 of Portugal's 308 municipalities lack official centers entirely, relying instead on private shelters, many of which are overwhelmed. O Cantinho da Milu in Setúbal, one of the country's largest private facilities, houses more than 700 dogs, while the Santuário Canino de Goldra near Faro operates under constant capacity pressure. Lisbon and Figueira da Foz recorded the highest municipal intake volumes in recent years, with the capital's Casa dos Animais de Lisboa facing persistent overcrowding despite aggressive adoption campaigns.

Experts attribute the surge to several converging factors: economic hardship that forces families to surrender pets, insufficient sterilization leading to unwanted litters, a post-pandemic wave of "impulse adoptions" now being reversed, and improved enforcement leading to more rescues from neglect or abuse situations. The 2016 law prohibiting euthanasia of healthy strays—while humane—has compounded the shelter space crisis, as facilities can no longer use euthanasia as a population management tool.

Infrastructure Investment and Policy Shifts

Castelo Branco's decision to expand its center from 175 to 260 animals reflects a recognition that current capacity is inadequate. The new facility will include enhanced veterinary infrastructure, quarantine zones, socialization areas, and administrative space, positioning the center as a regional model.

More broadly, Portugal's animal welfare governance is undergoing restructuring. Decree-Law 63/2025 and Regulatory Decree 4/2025, both enacted in April 2025, transferred responsibility for companion and stray animal welfare from the Institute for Nature Conservation and Forests (ICNF) to the Directorate-General for Food and Veterinary Affairs (DGAV). The shift aims to centralize policy, improve data collection, and coordinate municipal efforts under a unified national strategy.

The pending National Strategy for Stray Animals (ENAE), which complements the National Census of Stray Animals, is expected to formalize best practices around sterilization, identification, professional training, and humane population control. A national public opinion survey on cat welfare, conducted in February 2025, will likely inform the strategy's final provisions.

Practical Guidance for Pet Owners and Adopters

Residents considering adoption from the Castelo Branco CRO should contact the center directly or monitor municipal announcements for adoption fairs and online listings. The facility guarantees that adopted animals are sterilized, vaccinated, and microchipped, reducing the immediate financial burden on new owners.

Pet owners are reminded that electronic identification and registration are mandatory under Portuguese law. Non-compliance contributes to the inability to reunite lost animals with owners—a factor visible in the 42% of dogs that were returned in Castelo Branco, suggesting that many others lacked traceable identification.

For those encountering stray or distressed animals, the most effective route is to contact the GNR (808 200 000) or PSP (police emergency line), both of which maintain protocols for animal pickup and delivery to official centers. Direct municipal reporting is also available through Castelo Branco's city services.

Broader Implications for Animal Welfare Policy

The Castelo Branco data illustrate the tension between humanitarian intent and operational capacity. The prohibition on euthanizing healthy animals, combined with rising intake volumes and limited shelter space, creates a structural bottleneck. While adoption rates are climbing, they remain insufficient to offset arrivals, particularly for cats, whose adoption rate (21%) lags far behind the dog adoption rate (53%).

The CED model for cats offers a partial solution, but its success depends on sustained sterilization funding, public acceptance of managed colonies, and effective communication to prevent feeding bans from undermining the program. Cities like Porto, with its modern CROA facility (opened 2020, capacity 220 boxes, equipped with surgical and nursing facilities), demonstrate that infrastructure investment paired with structured colony management can produce measurable results.

Yet challenges persist. Fragmentation among animal welfare organizations, competition for donor funding, and inconsistent municipal enforcement create inefficiencies. The transfer of authority to the DGAV may streamline national policy, but local implementation will ultimately determine outcomes.

Financial and Social Costs

The financial burden of managing stray populations falls primarily on municipalities, which fund CRO operations, veterinary care, sterilization campaigns, and adoption marketing. Private shelters, operating on donations and volunteer labor, absorb much of the overflow but face chronic underfunding and burnout.

For residents, the indirect costs include public health risks (zoonotic disease transmission, particularly from unsterilized colonies), urban hygiene concerns (waste, noise, territorial disputes), and property damage (feral cats in gardens, strays in commercial zones). The societal cost of abandonment—ethical, logistical, and financial—remains high, underscoring the importance of responsible ownership, sterilization compliance, and early intervention.

Looking Ahead

The Castelo Branco figures suggest that 2025 was a year of both progress and pressure. The 23% increase in adoptions and the 34% rise in colony returns demonstrate that exit strategies are scaling. Yet the 21% surge in intakes reveals that upstream factors—abandonment, insufficient sterilization, economic stress—are accelerating faster than solutions can be deployed.

The new facility, scheduled for completion in the coming months, will provide breathing room. But infrastructure alone will not resolve the crisis. Sustained investment in sterilization programs, public education, enforcement of identification laws, and coordinated municipal-NGO partnerships will be essential to stabilize Portugal's stray animal population.

For now, the 1,065 animals that passed through Castelo Branco's doors in 2025 represent both a challenge and a commitment—a municipal determination to manage the problem humanely, transparently, and with a long-term view toward sustainability. Residents, adopters, and policymakers all have roles to play in ensuring that the system's capacity keeps pace with the need.