Animals: an appeal to law-makers

Well done Austin Sammut for hitting the nail on the head in a beautiful and well-planned article in favour of the animal kingdom, Who Are The Animals? (June 7).

As Dr Sammut excellently states, in Malta, animal awareness is in a shabby state, as it has always been. We can divide the Maltese population into three categories. There are those, still in a minority, who will go far, very far, to help their fellow animals to have a more decent life. There is a silent majority of the population who are merely sympathetic towards the cause, will not dream of harming any animal themselves, yet will equally not stand up and be counted.

Then, most unfortunately, there are those - another minority, not very numerous either - who do their best to find ways to harm animals in every way they can. They hate anything that moves around them other than their offspring. They would mutilate an innocent animal, abandon what was once a prized and valuable family pet to the streets, encourage an animal to be beaten up and willingly flay an animal alive just to see it wriggle and move in its last agony.

Law makers are closing not one but both eyes and allowing this minority to continue venting their personal grievances against nature. It is up to politicians to come up with ideas on how to inspire the rest of the population to respect the animal kingdom.

Let's take just one example: It is disgusting to enter Valletta and find horses under the sweltering heat while their owners are busy chatting away, swearing their heads off, comfortable in the shade! But it is even more disgusting to have a mayor and council, as well as a Valletta Rehabilitation Committee who, year in, year out, allow this to happen.

It has been years since the general outcry started for the authorities to see to it that these horses are never allowed to stay under the sun or in equally dramatic weather conditions, without adequate shelter, however temporary that shelter. It has been years since people have been voicing their concerns regarding the working conditions of these horses, animals that should never be allowed to pull cabs at certain hours of the summer day.

But one summer after another, horses continue to be forced to work at whatever hour and the more civilised among us who enter Valletta daily simply turn a blind eye and ignore the horses' plight! What a country!

The same can be said of other animals, as Dr Sammut says in his article. Animals are kept in dismal conditions all around Malta: on rooftops, especially under inadequate conditions; in horrible, dark and limited spaces such as war shelters all around Valletta and Floriana - a few metres away from police general headquarters, to top it all - or in very small open areas otherwise referred to as fields, without adequate shade. Go to Pietà, at the corner opposite the playing field, and you'll know what I am talking about.

Things should change and they should change fast. Environment Day has come and gone and it is a positive thing to buy trees and speak about making the country greener. But we must not stop there. The natural environment is also made up of animals, who have their lives to live, in full tranquility and without human intervention as much as possible, other than to help them have a more decent life. Let us try and encourage, through word and deed, the politicians and administrators who are responsible, to work fast and to work well in improving the Animal Welfare Act.