How to legally care for animals that are not yours during the state of emergency?
One of the most frequently asked questions during the state of emergency is whether it is legal to travel to another location to care for animals.
The answer is YES, it is possible, although it is necessary to know how to do it in a justified and legal way during the period of time that the state of emergency is implemented in Spain.
The first thing that we must take into account is that the Spanish government on March 14, 2020, approved an urgent law (Royal Decree 463/2020) declaring the state of emergency for the management of the health crisis situation caused by the Covid-19 coronavirus.
With regards to this law, it is vital to know that it is mandatory for all people who are in Spain.
The aforementioned law prohibits all people from leaving the house and moving or travelling, except for certain exceptions, such as going to the doctor, going to the vet if the animal is ill, going to buy food or to the pharmacy.
But what happens to pets during the state of emergency?
Well, don't worry about animals; for once in Spain, animals are being taken into consideration as well.
Articles 7.1.(b, g and h) allow people who to move around in certain cases. Although the law does not cite animals, legal experts, lawyers and politicians legally interpret these articles as follows:
Yes, a person can move in the following cases:
1. To walk your dog (in last week's article, I discussed this topic in detail).
2. To go to another home, smallholding or field to give food and take care of animals that are in their care, as happens, for example, with animal rescue centres, or when a person is taking care of animals for a friend or neighbour, who is in their home country or travelling, or in a worst case scenario, has died.
3. To feed feral cats. In addition to this law, the Ministry of Health passed another law, called Instruction of March 19, 2020, to establish interpretive criteria for the care of domestic animals throughout Spain during the state of emergency.
Why was this law made? When article 7.1.b, g and h allows all this.
Well, it was made because many town and city councils in Spain ignored official notifications from the Director General of Animal Rights,
Sergio García Torres, who sent them in writing to the 8,124 councils throughout Spain.
As we already know, even today there are many town councils in Spain that do not treat abandoned or stray animals well in their municipalities and of course neither do they care for feral cats (the stray cats that we frequently see on the streets around us asking for food).
If you are worried about being stopped by the police or army when you walk your dog, feed feral cats (only with dry food), go to volunteer at an animal shelter or when you go to a friend’s, neighbour’s or a member of your family’s home to take care of their animals, do not hesitate, enter my website and follow the instructions to sign up for the newsletter and directly access the free forms I have made for people who are in these situations.
Remember to fill in the data (your name, etc.), plus the address of the place where you go to take care of the animals, sign it and take these documents with you whenever you travel to take care of the animals.
In next week's article I will tell you more about how to legally help animals in Spain.
The Spanish government's General Directorate of Animal Rights was created recently. Within just a few months it issued two letters, in the same week, communicating to all the 8,124 municipal councils in Spain about their obligation to provide care and food to domestic animals that live in public spaces, and their obligation to authorise animal protection organisation volunteers so they can care for these animals.
Raquel gives talks to educate the authorities and associations about animal law. More information about her work is available on her website, www.deanimals.com, and Facebook page: DeAnimals.