Four accused of 'irregular animal sacrifice': highlights animal control problem in the country

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LOS BARRIOS (Cadiz) -- Four people were accused last week of killing animals at a shelter without the proper permits. Three of them are employees of a company called Control Zoosanitario, which has a contract to take abandoned domestic animals in Los Barrios and Algeciras. Among other things, they are impugned for alleged irregularities when putting the animals down, such as giving false dates in order to shorten the animals' stays at the shelter. According to a communique from the Guardia Civil, the four are the vet who attends at the shelter, and two employees of the dog 'home' in Los Barrios, plus someone with no proper connection to it, but who was the one killing the animals without permits or even a veterinary license to do so.

The investigation began when someone claimed back their pet dog, which they had lost in Algeciras. The nature conservancy unit of the Guardia, Seprona, found that the animal had been put down on the day following its disappearance, when the law states that it should have remained at the shelter for at least ten days.

OPINION --This case highlights the enormous problems faced by concils throughout the Campo de Gibraltar, in common with many others all over the country: dogs are abandoned everywhere, particularly at a time of financial difficulties. Keeping a dog is an expensive proposition: microchips, vet fees, food and proper care don't come cheap. Anyone can tell you of the number of feral cats on just about any corner of a town or village. This, added to the fact that there appears to be little animal welfare conscience in Spain, especially in rural areas, and little if any political willingness to find a solution.

Animal welfare associations proliferate like mushrooms everywhere without any apparent effort to join together to form a lobby with the possibility at least some political influence. Well-meaning people all over the country do their best to do something practical about the situation, but are often overwhelmed by the enormity of the problem. One doesn't want to imagine what things would be like without them, though.

(Original source: Europa Sur)