Will Piotr Borys, Zofia Czernow, Michał Jaros, Łukasz Horbatowski, Iwona Krawczyk, Robert Kropiwnicki, Jolanta Niezgodzka and Monika Wielichowska reach into their pockets to make life better for the dogs in Przylasek?

“At present, the shelter has an old, heavily worn and rusty washing machine, which could stop working at any moment,” Urszula Magryś wrote on her profile on Sunday, 13 September. “At the same time, there is no professional way to dry a large amount of laundry quickly. In winter, this becomes a particularly serious problem. We are turning to you with a heartfelt request to join forces and jointly support the Przylasek shelter operating under the Association of Communes ‘Kwisa’,” the councillor added.

Who else should “chip in” for the shelter?

On the public group “Przylasek Shelter in Lubań – Friends of Dogs,” the councillor’s idea collided with reality.

“In winter, straw is used for the kennels, not some blankets washed,” one of the page’s users wrote. “The fifteen communes should have pooled their money long ago and bought the equipment if it is needed. Is the new one standing next to that old washing machine already broken? Why isn’t it in the photo?” the user asked.

Internet users have another suggestion about who else should reach into their pockets to support the homeless animals at the shelter. They also describe, in blunt terms, the problems facing the shelter.

“Will councillors, commune heads, mayors and presidents from the 15 communes belonging to the Association of Communes ‘Kwisa’, which ‘owns the public shelter’, donate part of their salaries to treating dogs and cats, buying straw, constructing roofs over the kennels, or another purpose that would improve the animals’ situation at ‘their’ shelter?” one internet user asks. They add: “Straw is too expensive, repairing kennel floors is too expensive, water testing is too expensive, treatment is too expensive, new leashes are too expensive; there is no money to employ workers or a director, no money to adapt a vehicle for transporting live animals, no money for round-the-clock care, no money for specialist food or litter…”

If dogs performed Balkan concerts or painted themselves with clay, the money would probably be found…

From our own local experience, we know that when necessary, Bolesławiec can at least organise money. More than PLN 200,000 for a two-hour concert by a star at the Ceramics Festival, PLN 50,000 for a restaurateur to organise a several-hour clay-painting event, also at the Ceramics Festival, and PLN 32,400 for one evening of “relationship building” at a banquet. When there is a need, the money is found. It is probably very similar in other towns and communes. Only different events receive support.

Volunteers—people who help animals free of charge—say plainly that everything is upside down. Collections, mobilising politicians and requests for donations cannot replace a real budget from communes and towns for the shelter.

The shelter in Przylasek does not need parliamentarians’ money for a washer-dryer. It needs parliamentarians to pressure their colleagues—the commune heads, mayors and president—to allocate larger amounts from commune budgets to the shelter.

To Dear Parliamentarians

Dear parliamentarians, when you are being entertained at another banquet, the opening of another local-government building, a harvest festival or one of the many celebrations hosted by your colleagues, please tell them that you will not be organising any “collection for a new washing machine.” Tell them that it is they—the heads of towns and communes—who must increase the shelter’s budget so that everything there works properly and people and animals can achieve well-being. This is your task. We will take care of the rest: the residents of the region who genuinely care about animals.