Cats’ right to have a shelter
I am a born dreamer and I still dream that one day, not too far off, all the feline colonies in the more than 8,000 municipalities in Spain will enjoy similar conditions to those in Yecla. If you don’t know about the colonies of Yecla, keep reading because I am going to tell you.
Law 6/2017 of November 8, which regulates the defence and protection of pets in Murcia region, deals with stray cats in article two and feline colonies in article 25, establishing that town halls are obliged to apply the CER (TNR – trap, neuter and return) method.
The municipality of Yecla has set an example to follow in terms of ethical management of feline colonies, where private individuals, animal welfare associations and the staff of the town hall itself are 100% involved in the welfare of their feral cats. I will explain to you how they do things in Yecla.
The animal welfare association Spandy carries out the stray animal collection service for the town hall in an ethical manner, and is responsible for taking feral cats which are injured, sick and/or need sterilisation to the vet and afterwards returning them to the place they were captured.
Private citizens feed every one of the feline colonies, usually the one nearest their house. These people have a licence from the town hall authorising them to give food and water to the cats.
Another animal welfare association, Soy su Voz makes shelters by hand for the feral cats.
The marvellous municipal vet is responsible for monitoring the good hygiene and health conditions of the feline colonies.
If you would like something similar to be done for feral cats in your municipality, here I have four tips for you:
1. Be proactive, collect residents’ signatures, attach this article and present it all to the registry (office or electronic) of your town hall. Ask for the TNR method to be applied in your municipality in its widest sense (veterinary assistance, huts for shelter from inclement weather, training for feline colony managers).
2. Inform your town hall that if they have any doubt they can contact me via my website, www.deanimals.com, to provide a consultancy service and/or specialist training in the subject.
3. If you are a lawyer, law student or legal expert and want to dedicate yourself professionally to advising to town halls, animal welfare associations and/or individuals about ethical management of feline colonies, I am waiting for you via my website with two very special offers for the month of July: 1. Free mentoring for 30 minutes, in which I will advise you about what training would be ideal for you in order to be able to act with security and legal assistance in your cases; and 2. A very special discount for being a reader of Costa Blanca News. You can access these offers easily by writing to me via the contact section of my website and asking.
4. If you are a feeder of feline colonies (as an individual or for an association) and you would like to learn about these matters, I recommend two things: 1. Don’t lose this newspaper article, and 2. Subscribe to the newsletter at www.deanimals.com, in which you will receive information about online courses that are suitable for your profile, written in simple and plain Spanish, with very special prices.
A TIP. In those municipalities where you know town halls are still getting animals put down, do not tell them at first where the feline colony is located. Verify that they are going to apply the TNR method, otherwise your effort could have the opposite effect – that is to say, if the town hall does not want to regulate feline colonies at the moment, it may send catchers from the pound to put down traps to capture and sacrifice the cats. In these cases, I recommend that you train in the subject so that you can act to protect feral cats with certainty at every step of the way when you are dealing with the authorities.