Fundación Affinity

Research and programs on the human-animal bond

Fundación Affinity is a Spanish organization dedicated to studying and promoting the bond between people and companion animals. Its work combines research on human-animal relationships, animal-assisted therapy programs, and public-awareness campaigns about pet abandonment and adoption.

Areas of work

• Research: The foundation supports the Fundación Affinity Chair in Animals and Health at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain’s first research group focused on the human-animal bond, active since 2011. It also produces the Abandonment Observatory, with annual studies dating back to 1995.
• Animal-assisted therapy: The foundation was an early provider of these programs in Spain, bringing them to settings such as prisons, hospitals, residential facilities, and schools. It reports having reached more than 100,000 people since 1992.
• Awareness and social action: For more than 30 years, the foundation has run annual campaigns against abandonment, including its first campaign, “Él nunca lo haría. No lo abandones” (“He’d Never Do That. Don’t Abandon Him”). It also works with organizations such as FAADA to support people experiencing homelessness.

Programs and milestones

• More than 30 years of annual awareness campaigns.
• An annual animal abandonment study published since 1995.
• More than 700 collected stories about human-animal bonds.
• Participation in the “Los animales no son cosas” (“Animals Are Not Things”) campaign, which helped raise awareness of a legal change in collaboration with the Observatory for Animal Justice and Defense.

Resources and public education

The foundation maintains a library of downloadable resources, a press room, and educational publications about relationships with dogs and cats, abandonment, and adoption. It also shares study findings through infographics and articles.