Animal welfare
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Alba Tenza
Villanueva del Trabuco
Monday, 19 August 2024, 11:30
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It is a problem that the local residents living in Villanueva del Trabuco have been living with for half a decade. As in any municipality in Malaga province, it is common to see the odd cat when walking through the streets. However, for the last five years or so, it has been more common to find these animals run over, injured or abandoned in the town near Antequera. As a result of this situation, in 2019, a group of locals banded together to put an end to this problem and start sterilising the stray street cats. Currently, 25 volunteers are in charge of rescuing these animals and working to save their lives, taking into account that acts of cruelty against their colonies are becoming more frequent.
"The attacks and vandalism of the shelters and feeders that we have installed are frequent, as are the abandonments, which occur all year round, but with greater incidence in summer, which is when there is more misuse of air pistols," explained sources close to the group, which was created three years ago with the aim of uniting different organisations, individuals and volunteers with common principles towards the defence of animal rights and in favour of the defence of life.
Over the last five years, with the work of the volunteers, a total of 184 sterilisations have been carried out, which is still insufficient, despite the fact that they now have more facilities thanks to the support of the municipal council. "Now they give us food, they have given us volunteer ID cards and they are working to mark the cat colonies, but the problem continues because there are people in the town who do not care and although we denounce them, the lack of staff due to it being a small town is a problem," said one of the local residents, who works on a daily basis to protect the cat colonies. "If we took a census of abandonment and neutered all the cats, what would happen is that the colonies would be depopulated, but it is impossible because people do not stop abandoning cats and new litters appear," said the group.
According to the volunteers, the "offenders, whose identity is unknown, always act at night, taking advantage of the fact that people are asleep and there is no police surveillance", taking into account that the Guardia Civil currently covers five municipalities the local area, so the officers are not seen on a daily basis and the criminals take advantage of this gap in public safety. "Four cats belonging to individuals have been injured by lead pellets, in fact, one of them was found dead in the same park where it strolled every day. And to this we can add the destruction of shelters, feeding troughs, stoning, mutilation of tails and even poisoning of the most defenceless," the group added.
Aware of this situation, Villanueva del Trabuco town hall is calling for greater "reflection and civic-mindedness" to put an end to the unacceptable acts of cruelty that continue to be committed against the feline colonies in the municipality. "It is unacceptable that these acts of animal abuse occur in our town. We strongly condemn any act of violence towards animals and remind all residents that, according to law 7/2023, on the protection of the rights and welfare of animals, which was approved by the Spanish government and has been in force since 29 September 2023, registers these acts as constituting a crime."
The council added that the penalties for these offences range from 501 to 50,000 euros, so, in compliance with its powers, it will take the necessary measures to enforce this law.
Likewise, the town hall has appealed to the responsibility of all the residents of the municipality regarding the "massive" abandonment of felines since, as they say, there are more and more cats abandoned in the municipality, which aggravates the situation. It also reminded owners that it is essential that everyone sterilises and has their pets microchipped to prevent the uncontrolled proliferation and abandonment of these living beings.
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