Saturday, September 22, 2007

Animals in Spain - Warning : could hurt your sensibility -

Hello friends,

Surely you know of Spain as a land of sun and beaches, but you do not know how animals are treated in this country.

The Spaniards are capricious. They buy newborn puppies for Christmas presents, and quickly abandon them for summer vacations.

The abandoned, now homeless animals are run over, mistreated or destroyed. Those that arrive at the municipal pounds will be sacrificed because nobody adopts them. The few that are rescued by private individuals, shelters or foundations do not find homes in Spain, because adult dogs and cats no longer are 'cute' and the Spaniards do not want adult animals. Therefore, Spain "exports" its unwanted adult animals to France, Germany or Holland to hope for adoption there. The animals who have the "good luck" to live in shelters before being adopted are also not safe. Many shelters undergo attacks and the slaughter of their animals by heartless people that enjoy the suffering of the animals. The attached photos that show their insensitivity were taken after an attack of this type in 2006, and the police have not yet started to investigate the case, nor will they. The assassins remain free to roam the streets, killing, torturing and mistreating more animals.

The case of the cats is specially worrisome. The abandoned cats become scared cats after cruel children mistreat them or throw stones at them. Those scared cats are difficult to rescue and they reproduce. They survive by the generosity of very few sensible people, and are exposed to poison by the neighbors, or even extermination by the city council. Ignorance is widespread in Spain, and people not only do not know what a controlled colony is, but do not want to know. When they see cats, the only thing that most people (and the city council) want to do is TO KILL THEM. The neighbors have killed half of the cats of the controlled colonies of Barcelona, and in Madrid the situation is even worse. The city council of Madrid not only fines the caretakers that feed the cats, but it also eliminates the cats. There are no laws that protect single animals, and many city councils fine an individual more to feed an abandoned animal than to actually abandon one! More unnecessary slaughter takes place in construction zones. Each new construction site entails the death of many cats that lived in the area, killed by the workers or companies hired to do so ...... In Spain, exterminators and health officials consider cats to be a type of plague which must be WIPED OUT.

The situation is desperate for the abandoned animals. The shelters are saturated with animals, the caretakers receive threats from ignorant neighbors, the foster homes are also full, and there are still thousands of animals in the street to rescue, but we do not have any place to take them ........ The administration doesn't care about the lives of the abandoned cats. The volunteers and shelters, who have no subvention, pay for castration or spaying, cat food and the veterinary costs to create a controlled colony, and then many of these neutered cats are poisoned by neighbors.

International pressure is needed so that the government of Spain makes it a crime to abandon, mistreat or poison the animals of the street. Then a campaign of education is needed so that people really know what it means to create a controlled colony ......... We also need prominent foreign veterinarians to help us educate Spaniards that cats are not plagues, the cats of a controlled colony do not spread diseases, and the cats only can carry fleas, they do not produce them.

Please help and write emails using the model letter below:
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Model of the protest letter
Dear Sirs,

When I visited Spain I was horrified by the number of abandoned cats that are poisoned, abused and killed.

I could not understand how prosperous European cities in the 21st century are doing practically nothing to improve the situation of the street cats. What surprises me is that you know of the methods used by other European countries to deal with abandoned cats - the CONTROLLED COLONY (TNR- trap, neuter, return; veterinary control, correct feeding) but you do not consider putting these ideas into practice. It is unbelievable that a city council would rather eliminate a cat than have a managed colony. It is also abhorrent to think that the Spaniards are so ignorant and insensitive that they think that a controlled colony allows the reproduction of cats. And most incredible is public policy which punishes those who feed cats instead of the owners who abandon them and create the problem.

Please, avoid this senseless killing of animals! Help those who are trying to help the abandoned cats by creating CONTROLLED COLONIES and educating cities and towns to treat all animals humanely. When I return to Spain I hope to find cities which are working to improve this sad situation, instead of European metropolises that seem to be more like the third world.

Pictures after an attack of a protector in San Fernando (Cádiz)Pictures after poisoning by the neighbors in Barcelona
1. The poison
2. A died cat before we buried it totally
3. The poison not only killed the cat, but also the bird

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