As we wave goodbye to 2023 and welcome the new year, with hope and expectations of better welfare for livestock, wildlife and domestic animals, we can’t help looking back on the year left behind with all its ups and downs.
We wish Nature Trust Malta well for the valuable work they do and the support they will need to continue working at their newly opened Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre.
Unfortunately, even with an increased awareness of biodiversity’s importance for human sustainability, the attack on the environment persisted with habitat loss, plastic pollution and environmental erosion being widespread.
2023 was another bad year for wild birds, as spring hunting was once again permitted despite repeated warnings and infringement proceeding by the European Commission, and incidents of other illegal hunting made the headlines. Most worrying was the continuous threat to trees in Malta that has left many birds without places to roost, with new threats to trees even during the festive season. We really hope Malta starts turning the tide on protecting the environment with more than just platitudes.
We had good news and some recycled good news in 2023 about cats and dogs. While shelters were promised financial aid years ago, we are sadly still waiting for that financial aid to materialise and have often been excluded from such aid due to administrative mismanagement of dog registrations and transfers.
Our hope for 2024 is that pet transfers may become digitalised through e-IDs and that animals homed abroad are deregistered with the necessary due diligence, so that shelters are not deprived of funds again.
On a more positive note, 2023 saw the publication of a White Paper we and many others had lobbied for, on new regulations for dog breeders, groomers and pet minders. We believe the White Paper needs a lot of tweaking but the discussions are a step in the right direction.
Sadly, animals had to die to finally see some action. The MSPCA has provided extensive detailed feedback on the White Paper which can be viewed at maltaspca.org.
The greatest inroads in animal welfare in 2023 were made at the EU level, with proposals for new, first-ever dog- and cat-specific protections, planned revisions of the regulations for live animal transport and keeping, and new plans to eliminate animal testing and cage farming by 2027.
We really hope Malta starts turning the tide on protecting the environment with more than just platitudes- Christian Pace
Changes at the EU level are particularly important due to the large number of farmed animals in Europe. It is estimated there are 1.5 billion farmed fish, 11 billion poultry and 8.4 billion mammals slaughtered annually in the EU. The MSPCA will be following closely and assisting Eurogroup for Animals as best we can in 2024.
The MSPCA will continue to commit itself to outreach and to rehoming unwanted and abandoned animals, with last year’s 25 visits to elderly care facilities to combat loneliness, continued educational school visits in Malta to foster compassion, empathy and sustainability for the future generation, the creation of an animal welfare syllabus for the PSCD curriculum, and 152 animals rehomed in 2023. We look forward to building more on top of the work done and driving change to improve welfare standards.
I am sure we could fill a book with all that happens between the walls of rescue centres all over Malta and Gozo. We take this opportunity to wish our esteemed colleagues in rescue centres the best in 2024 and continued cooperation to assist the weak, the sick and the voiceless.
We must continue supporting each other to be strong enough to fight the problems we face together.
Last but not least, a great big thank you to all those who supported us in kind or financially or with their time last year. Our continued work is not possible without your continuous support that is the lifeline of a non-profit organisation.
May your carpets be muddy, your house full of fur and your home full of unconditional love!
Christian Pace is the behaviour and outreach manager at MSPCA – Malta Society for the Protection and Care of Animals.