A number of animal welfare NGOs have reacted sharply to comments by Agriculture and Animal Welfare Anton Refalo, listing a long line of unkept promises and accusing him of complete detachment from reality. The comments were made to Times of Malta on Wednesday.
"Hearing Dr Refalo one would be under the impression that the Labour Administration has just come to power and inherited an Animal Welfare Department under distress. Labour has been in office for 10 years and this should have had enough time to plan and implement any changes required. The current inadequacies are clearly the responsibility of this administration that allowed the Animal Welfare Department to become the Cinderella department," the NGOs said,
They accused the minister of complete detachment from the reality they encounter every day.
"The only responsible comment from the minister should have been that the situation is dire, and it is time for serious action. If the minister had to wear a pair of boots for a few couple of days and feel the daily realities faced by shelters and activists, he would realise that the glass is not half full as he said but completely empty."
Animal Welfare Department
The NGOs said the situation at the Animal Welfare Department is so desperate due to lack of resources that it must choose which animals to be confiscated or picked up from the streets and the ones that unfortunately have to be left where they are until conditions improve.
Meanwhile, plans for a national animal rescue centre at Ta’ Qali that were announced years ago, are still in the ‘pipeline’ and the project has yet to start.
Several laws had been promised and never enacted, including legislation to regulate breeders, pet sitters, groomers and trainers, the isolation of dogs, and making the microchipping of cats obligatory.
Legislation on zoos was issued and withdrawn immediately after protests from zoo owners two years ago.
The NGOs also complained about poor law enforcement, poor training and inadequate equipment for Animal Welfare staff and the need for more action to prosecute people who abandon, mistreat and create unnecessary pain to animals.
Also needed were a nation-wide neutering campaign especially for stray cats and dogs, and more space for abandoned animals.
Animal circuses allowed back
The NGOs also observed that under minister Refalo, the Animal Welfare Act was amended to allow animal circuses back.
"Thanks to this, various actions that were illegal till a few weeks ago like a magician doing circus tricks with live animals, are now permitted."
The NGOs said stray dogs had again become an issue. Malta also had a growing population of stray pigs since the Animal Welfare Department was not set up to hold all the dogs and cats let alone pigs, chickens, rabbits that are stray.
The groups said that possibly the most positive thing that happened under Labour was the appointment of Alison Bezzina as Commissioner for Animal Welfare.
The statement was endorsed by the Association for Abandoned Animals AAA, Buddy's lost and found page, Fostering and Homing Paws, Innocent Paws, Kitty Guardians for Strays, Our Rescues Malta Foundation, Real Animal Rights Foundation RAR and Voice for the Voiceless, Vuċi ghall-Annimali and The Island Sanctuary.