A leading local animal rescue organisation has backed Animal Welfare Commissioner Alison Bezzina’s warning against the potential introduction of “kill shelters” to deal with the exploding problem of abandoned pets.
The Malta Society for the Protection and Care of Animals defended the position of Bezzina, who called for action to be taken to prevent the need for shelters that euthanise animals that are not adopted.
The society said the public reaction to her opinion piece in Times of Malta had been misunderstood and her message lost.
“Like Ms Bezzina, MSPCA does not want kill shelters, yet, action must be taken to avoid this,” the NGO said in a statement.
“Being the oldest animal welfare organisation on the island, we have had considerable experience in most areas of animal welfare and it is a relief to read the proposals put forward by the commissioner for the upgrading and enforcement of legislation that we have long advocated.”
Speaking to Times of Malta last week, Bezzina said a number of steps needed to be taken to avoid the introduction of kill shelters, saying that the buying and selling of pets should be taxed as luxury commodities.
Licence for pet ownership?
The MSPCA said that, while it appreciated the spirit of the call, it nonetheless had reservations about this proposal.
“We are strongly against the idea of turning domesticated animals into commodities similar to a handbag or other fashion item. No animal should come with a price tag,” it said.
“We believe that people should not have the automatic right to own an animal but that one should obtain a licence and demonstrate their responsibility in caring for a pet.”
The NGO proposed the implementation of a large-scale national neutering campaign funded by the state that targets both dogs and cats.
“Over a six-year period, the MSPCA, in association with Dogs Trust of the UK, neutered over 16,000 dogs for people on benefits, farms, factories and all animal shelters. These sectors were prioritised as we felt that they were the most in need of help.
“Among these prioritised categories, we found that farms are one of the biggest problems for stray dogs and cats as the farmers pay no attention to the needs or outcome of unneutered animals,” it noted.
They also supported calls for the stricter regulation of animal breeders.
“In our view, breeding has unfortunately become an unregulated business, to the detriment of the poor animals being used and abused. Changes need to be made and MSPCA will support the commissioner on this aspect as well, as we believe that this is one of the biggest problems we have,” it added.
Calling for better enforcement, the organisation said the number of litters a female is allowed to have in a lifetime should be reduced from six to two and that laws must be modified according to the breed.
Additionally, breeders should be held to higher account and asked to make a deposit as a guarantee to acquire their licence, with every birth being registered as a mandatory standard.
The MSPCA is also looking towards the introduction of microchipping for cats, as well as a campaign to encourage people to adopt and not shop for animals.
“Animals should be a privilege to have the opportunity to care for and not a right,” the society said.
“We believe that no healthy animal should ever be put down because the system is failing. Animals should not suffer because of our mistakes.”