Spain launches its first Animal Welfare Law, a pioneering norm that came into force this Friday, although at half speed, given that aspects such as the dog ownership course and civil liability insurance will not yet be mandatory, pending of a regulation that could not be approved because the current Government is in office.
The rule will pursue impunity for abusers and protect the rights of animals as sentient beings, with a battery of obligations to owners and penalties for violations of up to 200,000 euros, in the most serious cases.
The Animal Welfare Law also regulates the ownership of animals. Primates and wild animals weighing more than five kilos cannot be pets. Nor those poisonous specimens of spiders, fish, amphibians and reptiles (including all those weighing more than two kilos, except turtles). And that list could increase, pending the development of future regulations.
Given these limitations, there has been an avalanche of pet surrenders in Mallorca, as reported by the Domestic Animal Protection Center of the Natura Park Foundation to IB3 Notícies. In a report broadcast by the regional network, those responsible for this organization assure that the number of resignations has grown in the last month. They usually received between one and four, but in September they received twenty.
Given the doubts and fear over the entry of the new rule, especially among the owners of exotic animals, the center believes that its entry into force will have an impact on the stagnation of adoptions.
From the foundation and the veterinary colleges, they remember that the executive has not yet published the definitive list of exotic animals that cannot be kept as pets. Therefore, it is not necessary to get rid of them at this time. When the regulation is applied, they will still have six months to look for an alternative.
