Animal welfare law at half speed: "People will react with fines"

PalmLolita arrived at Marta Gallego's veterinary clinic in Inca three years ago. Malnourished, with shattered joints from living crammed into a cage, blind in one eye and with very little vision in the other. The initial diagnosis was untreated leishmaniasis and polyarthritis. A man had rescued the Chihuahua from a sack in a dumpster. He thought it was a litter of kittens. "I called the police and reported the owner. He had thrown it in the manure, chip and all," Gallego recalls. When she went to trial, she asked the judge to consider the animal's situation in the sentence. "She just told me, 'Nothing is planned here.' I thought, how could that be, since it was the subject of the trial?" Marta remained silent. No one has reimbursed her for the more than 3,000 euros spent on Lolita, officially in the name of her abuser, who was sentenced to three months in prison. With no prior convictions, he is not required to serve time.

The Spanish government approved the Animal Welfare Law in 2023. The law recognizes animals as sentient beings, mandates microchipping (including cats), and requires municipalities to control feral cat colonies. It stipulates hefty fines of up to €100,000 in serious cases, prohibits the sale of animals in pet shops (with some nuances), and excludes hunting dogs. According to critics, it is a pet law that disregards the rights of other species. "The law is a very important and significant step forward because it recognizes that animals are subjects of rights, but the implementing regulations have not yet been approved. The delay is over a year, and it is difficult to assess whether it is being implemented due to a flaw in the law itself or a lack of development," summarizes Francisco Capacete, a lawyer specializing in animal law.

In Congress, the law was passed in extremisThe draft of its regulations is on the table, and the Spanish government, according to experts, doesn't seem to be in any hurry to finalize it. The law is administrative and civil, but not criminal. Thus, prison sentences for domestic abuse offenses have a maximum of 18 months, a period during which—without prior convictions or by express order of the judge—the convicted person does not go to prison. "These sentences are insufficient, the same as decades ago, resolved with a simple fine or community service. We must fight to increase them. Our sensitivity as a society demands it. It's more cost-effective to kill an animal than to kick it or leave it without food," insists Capacete, for whom the law is a "

The president of the Balearic Veterinary Association, Ramon Garcia, believes that the law has a greater impact on individuals and municipalities than on his profession, despite having proposed changes to the Ministry regarding the freedom to apply euthanasia with common sense. "It was written as if animals were mistreated at every level." “They couldn’t put us in a situation of total legal uncertainty,” he recalls. Regarding the focus on dogs and cats, he understands that there is “very strong sectoral regulation with European guidelines” in the case of livestock. Veterinarians collaborate with local councils in controlling feline colonies, with the obligation to sterilize cats. In the Balearic Islands, the law has generated more updated registries and censuses, and increased visibility of citizens' obligations (microchips). Since its entry into force, the number of registered pets has decreased from 432,131 to 394,363, partly due to registry cleanup, as many owners do not deregister their pets when they die. The number of cats has increased by more than 22,000 due to the effort in identification and census. However, the data does not imply a reduction in abandonment or mistreatment, which are long-term objectives. According to figures from the Ministry of Agriculture, There are 1,759 registered cat colonies, with almost half of their cats already sterilized. Colony control will be achieved when 90% of the cats are sterilized.

Toni Nadal, head of the Environment Department at the Santa Margalida Town Hall, denounces a mismatch between the "good intentions" of the law and the "complicated reality" of municipalities, which lack staff and resources. "The Ministry doesn't offer direct aid to pay for everything we're obligated to do. We work with collaborators in the colonies. We need the law to be implemented, training, and money," he adds. His Town Hall allocates €75,000 to domestic animal management, but they encounter a lack of awareness among citizens, who keep unregistered and unneutered cats going in and out of their homes. And they don't impose fines. Again, he claims, due to a lack of resources and evidence in many cases. Nadal is alone in the department and tied down by office work. "I barely have time to go out," he laments.

Impunity for offenders

Veterinarian Marta Gallego believes the law fosters impunity for offenders. "It's not fair that mistreating an animal goes unpunished. You can beat a horse to death and nothing happens," she denounces, advocating for stricter enforcement of "exemplary" sanctions. "Society needs to become aware, and it only does so when it affects its wallet. Is there more protection than ten years ago? Yes, but it's not enough. The problem isn't the laws themselves, but their enforcement. Killing oxen is considered culturally normal, and until recently, young men used to force roosters to drink alcohol. We mustn't treat animal abuse as less serious. It doesn't receive a response commensurate with the evil; the message conveyed to society is one of permissiveness," she continues. According to Gallego, laws, campaigns, and institutional messages have created a "false sense of security." "Most people don't recognize the abandonment, the silent mistreatment, or the lack of real resources," he says. Capacete, on the other hand, sees the glass half full and proposes following the legal trend that favors rewarding with tax incentives or discount vouchers instead of punishing, as in other European countries.

For the president of Progreso en Verde (Progress in Green), Guillermo Amengual, there has been "neither protection nor effective application" of the law. "We see the same as before, or even worse. We report situations of abandonment, and they aren't followed up on due to a lack of personnel in the Seprona (Nature Protection Service) and the Local Police." His association demanded their inclusion in the regulations for carriage horses, which are permitted by the Palma City Council. "The City Council doesn't want to act. They know that half the horses are abandoned on farms and can barely move, but they don't do anything. The Ministry of Agriculture and the Seprona know this. Our complaints are filed away or thrown in the trash." They managed to keep the horses from working when there were high temperature alerts, but every year "there are animals that fall ill." he"They keep the horses on the ground because they can't stand the heat." "They keep doing it, but no one has been penalized," he insists. For its part, the Palma City Council (Cort) has no intention of replacing the horses with electric carts. The City Council has increased the number of penalty proceedings since the law was passed: two fines ranging from 200 to 3,500 euros. Amengual recalls how they rescued a cat that was caged outdoors. "They're used to looking the other way. I don't know if it's that they don't want to or can't do anything else. Luckily, there are also exemplary people," he concludes.