All town halls are responsible for protecting stray cats

There are some town halls which do not look after the cats living in the streets of their municipality, using the excuse that their regional animal protection law does not allow them to do so.

This is not true and I will tell you why.

In Spain each autonomous region ( Comunidad Autónoma) has its own animal protection law, and when we analyse each one of these laws we can differentiate between two groups of regional laws, one that mentions feline colonies and the other which does not.

We are going to look at each one of these groups.

1. Regional laws which do refer to feline colonies.

The animal protection laws of Asturias, Cataluña, Madrid, Galicia, Murcia, La Rioja, Navarra and Castilla– La Mancha ( including Ceuta) refer to town halls’ responsibility for stray cats.

2. Regional laws which do NOT refer to feline colonies.

The animal protection laws of Valencia, Andalucía, País Vasco, Cantabria, the Canary Islands, the Balearic Islands, Castilla– León, Aragón, Extremadura ( including Melilla) in theory allow domestic animals to be captured and put up for adoption and/ or put down after a specific number of days.

However in practice, this second group of laws have become obsolete because they do not meet the demands of society – which is why increasingly more town halls in these regions hire animal catching services which apply the TNR method ( trap, neuter and return the cat to the place where it was caught) and never have animals put down after so many days if they have not been able to get them adopted within the set time limit.

Next I will cite a list of legal tools which can be interpreted as being in favour of implementing the TNR method as part of the animal protection policies of any town hall in Spain, whether their regional and municipal animal protection laws regulate feline colonies or not.

The UNESCO Universal Declaration of Animal Rights 1978.

The Five Freedoms of animal welfare of the World Organisation for Animal Health.

The Cambridge Declaration on Consciousness of nonhuman animals, June 7, 2012.

The Feline Manifesto presented by Agnes Dufau representing the Plataforma Gatera in the Spanish Parliament ( Congreso de los Diputados) on April 25, 2015.

The European Union Treaty of Lisbon, 2009, which regulates in article 13 that animals are sentient beings.

■ The 1952 Decree which makes it obligatory for dogs and their vaccinations to be registered by their owners, and the 1974 Order which develops this Decree.

■ The Order of June 14, 1976 regarding health and hygiene measures concerning dogs and cats.

■ Law 7/ 1985 sets out the basis of local regimes which regulate town halls’ responsibilities regarding public health.

Law 8/ 2003 regulates responsibilities regarding animal health taking scientific evidence into account.

The judgment of the Spanish Permanent Council of State ( Consejo Permanente de Estado) in case n º 865/ 2014.

The Ministry for Health instruction of March 19, 2020.

The statutes of the autonomous regions of Cataluña, Andalucía and the Canary Islands, which regulate their respective responsibilities to protect animals.

Public and official communications from the Prime Minister, Ministry for Health, and deputy Prime Minister, issued via the office of the Director General for Animal Rights, about the obligation to look after and feed feline colonies during the months of quarantine from March to June 2020.

The Office of Public Prosecutor for the Environment on March 26, 2020, citing feline colonies and how they should be fed.

The report of the Andalucía Council for Protection of Pet Animals from March 15, 2020, which rules on the legality of all town halls in that region using the TNR method.

Numerous judicial rulings and judgments which defend the care and welfare of feline colonies, about which you can read more in the articles I have published in this column.

You can find out more about Raquel’s courses in Spanish animal law on her website, www. deanimals. com