The animal situation in Catalonia

Relative to other western countries, the animal protection legislation in Catalonia is weak. However, the biggest problem is that the laws that do exist are not enforced, and above all that people in general care very little about the well being of animals. APAN is trying to improve the situation with the means we have, but it is very difficult to make people change their minds, and it will take a lot of time.

One way to put pressure on the administration to do something about the situation is to make the scandals that happen all the time known to the public, espesially abroad. Catalonia has a large tourist industry, and the administration usually does its best to prevent that people in other countries hear about the dirty animal situation in the country. Therefore we try to inform the world as well as we can about how animals are mistreated in Catalonia.

A speech about animals in Catalonia

The following is an extract of the transcript of a speech that a member of APAN held before the General Assembly of MHAN in Hôtel Negresco, Nice (France) June 2000.

"Further, I would like to tell you about the abominable, endless mistreatment that these abandoned animals are forced to suffer:

In February this year an employee of a private company that was hired by about thirty different city halls in the region of Barcelona to get rid of straydogs finally found the courage to tell the public, in spite of the threats he was receiving, about the horrors these animals had to suffer.

A starving dog

THEY WERE BURNING THE DOGS ALIVE!!

Let me explain: The dogs were put in a row and hence directly witnessed the massacre of their peers until it was their own turn. My mother sent me the video cassette, but I never dared to watch it. The dogs understood very well what awaited them, their look was terrified.

The Catalan government has closed the company and started a court trial. Will they be severely punished? I strongly doubt it!!!

Another point I would like to speak about tonight is THE VETERINARIANS. I don’t know how, but somehow I can understand that persons who don’t like animals can kill them, but what I can not understand is how veterinarians can fill their pockets with money from this kind of business. I have always thought that if someone became veterinarian, it was because he wanted to help animals. Perhaps I am too naive?? In Catalonia the veterinarians know that there are very few animal protection organisations, and that these organisations just hardly survive.

A Husky picked up in Vilanova del Camí, found in very bad condition (suffering from malnutrition, sick and beaten).

The reductions they are giving us on the treatment of the animals in the shelter are ridiculous!!

But the most shameless are the veterinarians of «Anoia Veterinaria» who on top, in our days, call themselves «ENTERPRISE ANOIA VETERINARIANS».

10 years ago they signed contracts with different city halls in the Anoia region to kill abandoned animals for 12 500 ESP per piece. Every year they killed about 600 dogs, which makes a total of 75 000 000 ESP till now.

1998, as our animal protection organisation became active, they suddenly hurried to obtain the official permissions they needed. In fact no-one cared that this centre was illegal; in the end there was someone there to do the dirty work and everyone were happy.

With all this money they have earned, a few months ago they started to build a new splendid Veterinary Clinic (the first of its kind in Catalonia). On the first floor pets with owners who pay for them will be treated and on the ground floor they will continue with the dirty work. They are even very proud and call themselves «the pioneers». If this works out, there will be a lot of other «Veterinary Enterprises» with the same desire of success that will follow in their footsteps.

One of the hung dogs found in Vilanova del Camí.

It seems that they are now short of money and since they need money quickly, they have begun lowering the price per killed dog or cat, to receive more animals to kill.

On top, the construction of this hospital also started without any permission. The inhabitants of the neighbourhood tried to stop the construction with legal means (not, of course, to save the animals – just because they found the clinic to close to their houses).

In spite of this they got their permissions at the end. The neighbours and our animal protection organisation continue to try to stop them and as they need to make money quickly, they proposed the following:
Once the animal is caught, instead of killing it they will spay/neuter it, tattoo it and all this for 20 000 ESP per animal.

This means that they want to have money for the same animal both from the city hall and from our association – money that we certainly don’t have.

The Catalan government and the city halls are of course IN FAVOUR of this kind of clinics. They will clean the region easily and quickly. One would expect that, with time, the administration and the veterinarians would realise that killing the animals is not the best solution and would want to support the few animal protection organisations there are. But it seems this is not the case!!! The last thing I would like to tell you about tonight is about the hunters:

Wild boars kept under miserable conditions on a 500m2 terrain without any shadow or water or food. Had to be fed by us without the knowledge of the owner (a member of the city council and «big» hunter).

You have to know that they are poisoning the foxes so that they don’t eat the rabbits, not to forget that pets are also poisoned; they are hanging their own dogs in trees to get rid of them and they keep them imprisoned in cages hardly feeding them at all. The cages are so low that the dogs can not even stand up. We are trying to tell the people about these terrible things with no other result than threats. I even started practising a martial art, since I was assaulted more than once!!

Poisoned cat covered with worms (one of 13 cats found in this condition).

Will the greed of mankind ever find an end?"