Animals kept in pitiable conditions may have a better chance of being rescued if a proposal to widen the confiscating powers of welfare officers makes it into law.

The Animal Welfare Department had compiled a list of proposed amendments to the law that include giving more power to welfare officers and raising fines for animal cruelty.

The proposals were presented to the Rural Affairs Ministry that would be considering them, a spokesman said. Before any amendments were made, these had to go through a process that involved the Attorney General's scrutiny.

As things stood now, welfare officers could only confiscate animals if they had a veterinary's certificate showing the animal was unhealthy or if they obtained a warrant from the law courts, explained Mario Spiteri, director general of the Rural Development Department that handles animal welfare.

This means that if an animal is kept in a tiny cage, which is considered animal cruelty, officers have no power to remove it from such a situation. A case in point was the recent arraignment of the owner of a Ħamrun pet shop charged with animal cruelty. The court heard how the pet shop, described as a "concentration camp", had little ventilation and rusted cages which, in some cases, were only slightly larger than the animals they housed. Yet, the animals have not been moved because animal welfare officers did not have the power to do so.

Welfare officer Manuel Buhagiar said the proposed amendments would help officers do their job more efficiently. One of the main problems, he said, was that an animal could be confiscated once it was visited and diagnosed as unhealthy by a vet working with the government's Veterinary Services.

Dr Spiteri agreed adding that, although animals could also be confiscated through a court warrant, obtaining this took time and, in the meantime, the animals in question were still living in bad conditions.