Until now in Barcelona, ??taking a dog without a leash on public roads was only fined if it happened in areas with an express prohibition. As of December 18, this practice will be sanctioned outside the 225 areas where it is allowed. Complaints range between 100 and 300 euros, depending on the danger generated. It sounds like a play on words, but it’s not. The enabling of 109 zones of shared use (ZUC) of dogs with pedestrians, which is about to be completed, facilitates this change. 40 have already been marked and the remaining ones will be added in the coming days. Until February, teams of informants explain the changes.

These spaces, the ZUCs, were provided for in the animal protection, possession and sale ordinance approved in 2014. They are unenclosed areas, in streets, squares or parks, but marked where dogs can go without a leash at certain times , which vary according to the cases. These animals can also go off-leash in 70 areas for dogs (AG) and in 46 more recreation areas (AEG). They are closed enclosures with physical enclosures where the dogs are free; yes, always watched over by their carriers.

Initially the ZUCs were not enabled because they were linked to the creation of a carrier responsibility card, which was ultimately not implemented because it was considered an unnecessary bureaucratic hurdle, and a year ago the municipal government, through a decree, detail all areas where dogs would be accepted off-leash, those already existing and those planned to open.

The rule already made it clear that, except in these places, dogs must be on a leash. But this condition was not applied in its entirety because the ZUCs did not yet exist and it was considered that the city still did not have enough spaces for canine recreation. Potentially dangerous dogs, which are governed by another regulation, must always be leashed and muzzled, even in these areas.

“We are looking for animal welfare and the logic of coexistence”, stressed yesterday Laia Bonet, first deputy mayor. With the creation of the ZUCs, distributed throughout all the neighborhoods, “95% of people with dogs at home will have a space for them to be free less than ten minutes from their homes”, added the councilor. The City Council estimates that there are 180,000 dogs in Barcelona, ??85,000 of which have been registered.