Pet cemeteries
The first time that I heard anyone speak about pet cemeteries it sounded very strange to me, but fortunately now it is frequent to find out about the existence of such places.
I myself visited one in Arganda del Rey in Madrid, called the ‘Último Parque’ (last park); it opened in 1983 and according to its website over 4,000 pets are buried there.
I am talking about this subject today because many people ask me what can be done to get a pet cemetery built in their municipality and because almost a year ago I went through one of the saddest moments of my life. At that time I would have been grateful had there been a pet cemetery in my municipality, because a year ago my beloved dog Tania left this mortal world.
My beloved dog Tania, a beautiful German shepherd who my partner rescued after she had been abandoned on a motorway and hit by a car, died on July 17, 2019. She collapsed suddenly while I was taking her for a walk, dying of a heart attack or something similar, according to the vet.
This dog changed my life: on March 31, 2012, my partner rescued her after witnessing her being run over in the middle of the motorway by another driver who was ahead of him. That driver tried to dodge her but was unable to, although because they reduced their speed the impact was not fatal and did not seriously injure Tania.
Because I was so angry that she had been abandoned and run over on the motorway, I swore to myself that as a lawyer I would work to protect and defend animals.
I turned my life around and dedicated myself exclusively to being an animal rights lawyer, and shortly afterwards started combining this with providing specialist training in this matter.
It was not an easy road for me, because in 2012 there was much less awareness about animal welfare issues and nor was there specialist training in the subject, so I trained myself by taking cases of animal abuse and abandonment, and advising animal welfare organisations, town halls and police forces.
A year ago today my life took another turn: when Tania died I was broken with grief and I confess that for the first time, at that moment I considered giving it all up and dedicating myself to something else. But a few days later, I thought that I owed it to Tania to continue and so I did, for her, although I decided it was the right moment to focus myself only on the training. For this reason, since 2019 I no longer work as a lawyer and I just provide training in animal protection legislation to officers of the authorities, lawyers, judges and prosecutors, so that they know how to act legally in cases of animal abuse and abandonment, and matters to do with stray cat colonies.
What are the laws on pet cemeteries?
Law 7/1985, regulating the rules of local governments, is an administrative state law, which means it applies all over Spain. This says in article 25.2.j that municipalities, i.e. all town halls in Spain, have the power to create cemeteries.
If you are a lawyer, law student or legal expert and you want to dedicate yourself professionally to animal law, I have a present for you during the month of July.
What present?
A free online mentoring session in which I will explain to you what professions are available in animal law, my own experience, and what online training is best suited to your profile from www.deanimals.com
This article is dedicated to my beloved German shepherd, rest in peace my little one, and also to all the readers who have lost an animal.
More information about Raquel's work is available on her website, www.deanimals.com, and Facebook page: DeAnimals.