How virtual fostering works
Virtual fostering means you take on the monthly costs of one specific animal in a Serbian shelter, while the animal stays with the shelter that is already caring for it. Every animal on this site has a published breakdown of its daily needs — food, water, bedding, veterinary care — with the price of each item in euros and the resulting daily, monthly and yearly total. You pick an animal, see what it actually costs, and donate to the shelter it lives in.
What is a virtual foster parent?
A virtual foster parent is someone who covers the monthly costs of one shelter animal without taking the animal home. The animal stays in the Serbian shelter that is already caring for it, and the virtual foster parent takes on part or all of the cost of its food, water, bedding and veterinary care. This exists because a great many people want to help but genuinely cannot adopt: the flat is small, they already have animals, they travel, or their living situation does not allow it. Virtual fostering turns that intention into concrete help for one animal with a name and a face, rather than a general donation whose effect is never visible. Each animal's profile states exactly what it costs per month, so you know what you are committing to before you commit.
Where does the money I donate go?
Donations are processed on this site through Stripe. Each gift is earmarked for the animal, shelter, campaign or the ZooPlanet project you choose. Money earmarked for a shelter — including gifts for one of its animals or campaigns — is remitted to that shelter by bank transfer. Gifts to the project stay with ZooPlanet. We take no commission. We cannot give tax advice. That is why every animal profile names its shelter and city, and why every shelter on the site has its own page describing its work.
How is the monthly cost calculated?
The monthly cost is not an estimate, it is a sum of line items. The shelter, or the volunteer who maintains the animal's profile, enters each item separately — a bale of hay, a kilogram of dry food, a vaccination — together with its quantity and its price in euros. The site adds those up into a daily total, then multiplies by 31 for the monthly figure and by 365 for the yearly one. That table of items is visible on every animal's profile, so you can check every number before you donate. If an item is unclear, contact us and we will ask the shelter — asking is better than donating without understanding where the money goes.
Can I visit the animal I virtually foster?
That depends on the shelter, not on us. Shelters in Serbia have different visiting rules: some receive visitors on set days and by prior arrangement, some are on sites that are not safe for unannounced visits, and some have only a handful of volunteers able to walk people through the premises. That is why each shelter's page carries its own information about how it operates and how to reach it. The recommendation is to contact the shelter before you travel, even when you are already an animal's virtual foster parent. The photographs on an animal's profile are posted by the shelter or its volunteer, so they are the freshest picture of the animal's situation this site can offer you.
How can a shelter join ZooPlanet?
A shelter contacts us through the contact page and we open an administrator account for its page on the site. From then on the shelter enters its own details, photographs and description of its work, plus the animals looking for a virtual foster parent — including the list of items and costs for each one. We charge shelters nothing and take no share of donations; the project is run by volunteers. All we ask is that the data is accurate and that an animal's profile is updated when its situation changes, because the credibility of those numbers is the only thing this site has to offer. If you run a shelter or a registered animal rescue in Serbia, the contact page is the place to start.
Is a donation tax-deductible in Serbia?
We cannot give you tax advice and we do not claim that a donation is tax-deductible. ZooPlanet is a volunteer project, not a registered charity. Payments are processed via Stripe; Stripe emails a payment receipt. Whether that has any tax effect depends on your status and on the shelter's, so the only reliable places to get that answer are the shelter and your accountant or tax adviser. We will not assert anything about the tax treatment that we cannot verify.
What happens if the animal is adopted?
If someone adopts the animal, that is the best possible outcome and the point of the whole exercise — the shelter tells you, and the animal's profile is taken down or marked as unavailable. Continuing to help is not an obligation: virtual fostering is not a contract, and you can stop at any time without explaining yourself. If you would like to continue, you can choose another animal from the same shelter, or donate to the shelter directly, which is often the most useful option because the shelter itself knows where the help is most needed at that moment. The same applies in the unhappy case — if an animal's condition worsens or it dies, the shelter is the one who tells you, and its profile stops being active.