2024-02-14 04:42:01
The only one kind of like the entire Balkan peninsula platform offers detailed search by location, gender and breed
Europe is home to 340 million pets, which are kept in a total of 91 million households. It is a successfully developing industry that generates revenues of just over 29 billion euros per year. However, while the sector continues to grow at a staggering pace, there are few organizations – private or national – that take adequate care of animals and ensure their safety and comfort. The American Humane Association estimates that one in three pets is lost at least once in their lifetime. This frightening statistic motivated two ambitious young people to create a centralized platform for lost and found pets on the territory of Bulgaria – a service that does not exist in any other country on the Balkan Peninsula.
My-petpal is a unique project that offers a detailed search for animals by breed, gender and location. It is very easy to use and completely free. So far, there are more ads for lost and found dogs, but the site also works with cats. Probably soon with other pets that have a bad habit of getting lost or running away.
The website www.my-petpal.com was created with the idea that by bringing together the search for lost pets in one place, it will make the process faster and more successful. Because there is only one way at the moment – spreading a call for help in Facebook groups, blogs and wherever one sees fit.
The name of the platform comes from English and Bulgarian literally
means “the friend of mine pet” –
a reference that this space was created for animals and is therefore their closest friend.
The platform was developed over 9 months by a brother and sister. Martin Smilkov is an IT specialist, and Evita works as a journalist. He is behind the idea and does all the technical work. For almost a year, Martin condenses his free time into building a complex and multi-functional website. He even handles the design part himself, such as rubrics, colors, fonts – in practice, he first creates the entire working structure in his head, and then patiently begins to apply everything he has learned from the profession. His sister, on the other hand, conducts a number of studies – from whether such a platform even exists anywhere in the world to digging through voluminous legal reports to store the data of future users.
She herself asks Martin how he came up with the idea of creating such a website and whether he happened to see an analogue somewhere in the world. The programmer tells her that last year for 2 weeks, while he was browsing his social networks, he came across a post from a friend who was looking for a home for a puppy. He passed by several times, although he felt sad for the little one. The last time he saw the dog, he thought about how absurd it is that the only place where one can look for a home for an animal in need is the so-called stories on platforms like Instagram.
Martin decided that although society is already used to using social networks for such causes, they are not particularly effective, because on Instagram, for example, a “story” is deleted 24 hours after publication. That is, we find ourselves in a situation where information reaches a huge audience, but for a short period of time, which inevitably affects the final result, explains the programmer.
“There’s something else that shouldn’t be underestimated,” adds Martin. “When you use Facebook and Instagram to spread an ad about your lost pet, you’re relying on their algorithm – and no one is fully aware of how it works.” And this is really leaving it to chance. That is why he created a centralized platform.
The beginning of the platform is difficult – any loyal and supportive community is built over time. That’s why Martin relies on his sister a lot. “We are guided by the thought that the family is the most important value and with joint efforts it must be preserved in modern society. We have put all our heart and energy into this project to create a community built on the true values in life – love, care, support and solidarity”, the two creators told “24 Chasa”. However, they are far from planning to stop there – they are about to
establish a foundation, to help of animals in need,
in addition to connecting pet owners in need. They are determined to help – first with distribution, and the next step is financial support. “We will provide several ways to donate so that everyone can support the causes on our platform, as it is easiest for them”, says Martin Smilkov. One-time as well as monthly donations are planned, and in order to transparently monitor where the funds are directed – the donors themselves will vote on which cause to support. Thus, a democratic decision will be made every month.
Despite the challenges they faced from the start, the two are confident that more and more people will find out about the new website and start using it. “We already realize how difficult it is to publicize a good cause, but we are sure of our idea and will continue to develop it. This is just the beginning”, Martin and Evita are emphatic. And they admit that they already enjoy a lot of support. Acquaintances and strangers wrote to them and shared their posts, thus giving publicity to the platform. Another IT professional offered to develop a smartphone app completely free of charge. A lawyer has taken it upon himself to help with the foundation, even the actor Filip Bukov has joined in spreading the idea.
“We didn’t even hope that from the very beginning we would create a community that supports each other,” say the creators. They can even boast of
the first successfully a completed cause
Three kittens that were dumped on the street in Plovdiv have already found their new owners and are happy and warm. The creators say that since the beginning, far more people have been looking for homes for stray animals than they have been reporting lost pets. So they urge anyone who doesn’t have a pet at home to visit the website and adopt a little one.