Animal shelter ‘ageist’ for refusing kitten to 69‑year‑old, says commissioner

The commissioner for the elderly has branded as ageist a Gozo animal shelter's refusal to let a 69-year-old man adopt a kitten.

Commissioner Alexander Attard described Gozo SPCA’s refusal to let Ray Bondin adopt a kitten as “ageist” and “discriminatory”, warning it reinforced negative perceptions of older people.

But the MSPCA said it fully supports the Gozo shelter, questioning what would happen to the kitten should it outlive its owner and stressing the importance of putting “lifetime welfare first”.

The Commissioner for Animal Welfare Fleur Abela said the decision was "responsible"

"Animals are companions, but they also have specific needs that must be met throughout their lives. A kitten or a puppy represents a commitment of at least ten years, so shelters must take all necessary measures to ensure that adopted animals are not abandoned or left without proper care later in life," Abela said.

She added the "ultimate goal" of adoption must be to place animals in homes "for their entire lives". 

Meanwhile, another reader reached out to Times of Malta to say Animal Welfare had refused the adoption of a cat because of her age.

Bondin described how the Gozo animal shelter had refused his request for adoption, citing his age and a lack of a contingency plan should he become unable to look after the kitten.

Unacceptable 

Commissioner for Older Persons Alex Attard said using age as a deciding factor was ‘discriminatory’.

The shelter responded that it did not apply a specific age limit and assessed adoption requests on a case-by-case basis.

Commenting on the case, the commissioner stressed that putting age as the determining factor is unacceptable. “Ageism is a form of discrimination,” Attard said, stressing the recent incident reinforces negative perceptions. He said that, unless age was considered in all cases and not just for older applicants, it was “wrong”.

Attard said that although he was “not interested in a crusade”, ageism was “becoming normalised and acceptable”, noting that even the United Nations was acting on the issue.

The UN has described ageism as a “global challenge”, leading to reduced quality of life for older persons and costing economies billions. The organisation estimates that half of the world’s population holds ageist attitudes.

Responding to the commissioner, Gozo SPCA centre manager Mark Thorogood told Times of Malta the centre’s primary concern are the animals under its care and finding them the most suitable homes.

Stressing that the shelter “consider all the circumstances in a possible adoption”, Thorogood said Bondin had informed the shelter of the recent escape of one of his cats and that he had “no backup plan if something happens to him”.

“We offered him a kitten if he could provide details of a backup plan. He refused,” he said, adding Bondin would not adopt an adult cat. “His opinion is that we have no right to decide what animal he can adopt from us. We disagree”.

MSPCA general manager Mary Cassar Torreggiani said the criticism of the Gozo shelter “misses a fundamental truth: animal shelters are not here to grant wishes or respond to headlines. They exist to protect lives”.

“Shelters are often left to manage the consequences of abandonment, overbreeding, surrender and loss,” she said.

Emphasising that adopting an animal was a “big commitment”, Cassar Torreggiani noted that the MSPCA might also refuse an adoption request from someone in their early 20s, for example, if they believed the applicant was likely to frequently be travelling away from home for long periods of time.

“MSPCA does not discriminate based on age but the appropriateness of the specific situation, the adopter’s situation and what is best for the specific pet.”

Responsibility

Stressing that animals in shelters “experience fear, stress, loss and love, just as deeply as we do”, Cassar Torreggiani said such organisations are the ones that step in when people move, grow tired, leave the country, enter care, or pass away.

“When that happens, who carries that life forward? Who absorbs the emotional and financial cost? Who finds another home? Shelters do and that responsibility is precisely why careful adoption policies exist.”

Noting that older persons “can and do make excellent adopters”, she stressed that “every adoption decision must place the animal’s lifetime welfare first, without exception”.

Following reports of Bondin’s case, one reader contacted Times of Malta to say that she too had been refused adoption based on her age, after she approached Animal Welfare to find a companion for a kitten born to an abandoned cat in her care.

“I was told by the manager that I was too old. I was disappointed and distraught”, she said.

The reader said she was told she could only adopt if she provided a letter from someone who was prepared to take on this cat if unable to look after him. “But this policy seems almost worthless as anyone of any age could find themselves in that position, as could the writer of that letter,” she said.

While the European Convention for the Protection of Pet Animals prohibits the sale of animals to those below the age of 16, it does not specify an upper age limit or provide rules specifically targeting pet adoptions. Malta has yet to sign up to the convention, according to the Council of Europe website.