# Changing Times



## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

Slowly but surely attitudes to the treatment of animals of all kinds are changing in Spain and the changes are being led not by old guiri women with big , medium or small dogs but by Spanish people of all ages, determined to use all means from changing legislation to campaigning to starting new animal-rights focused political groupings. They are no longer prepared to tolerate cruel cultural and traditional methods of treating animals, whether domestic pets or 'working' or 'wild' animals.

On Thursday this week the Ayuntamento de Estepona joined neighbouring council Marbella and other councils in many parts of Spain is passing unanimously a wide-reaching motion from the opposition Party PSOE drawn up in consultation with animal rights association and dog refuge and rehoming centre ADANA. This motion affirmed that the Council was committed to a zero-kill policy in all shelters and animal establishments and amongst other welcome measures, including funding castration/neutering programmes for street cats and dogs, agreed to set up a Consejo, a special department for the overseeing of all issues relating to animal welfare, including education and poster campaigns.

This really is a major step forward especially when considered in line with current negotiations between the Ayuntamiento and ADANA with the objective of making ADANA the official protectora de Animales de Estepona., something the association has tried to achieve for many years. Last week the Estepona Mayor opened a dog park in the town and at the ceremony presented a plaque to ADANA in recognition of work done for abandoned animals for almost thirty years.

There are still one or twom issues to be resolved, such as the continuing of bull-fighting 'shows' in the town's bullring, reopened when the PP gained power from PSOE in 2011, and the sale of live animals displayed in shop windows. Carrefour and major garden centres have discontinued this horrible practice but there remains one town centre outlet in Estepona, owned by the family of a PSOE Concejal....
Those are the next areas to tackle.

I know this isn't happening all over Spain but the change in attitudes is slowly but surely changing for the better. I'd urge anyone interested in animal welfare to check out what policies their local Town Halls have for animal welfare and if they are not up to model European standards to join with local groups campaigning for change.


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## Alvarro (Dec 23, 2016)

And not before time. As well as my own two dogs I feed 6 others. Whilst they appear to be given some food what they are lacking is attention. They are all beautiful creatures and are as happy to see me each day as they are to be given food. I spend as much time with them as I can but the attention I give them has to be through a wire fence so no stroking and petting. They are also given no anti-parasitic treatment and in the heat of the summer are covered in ticks and fleas. I despair, why keep dogs that you hardly ever see and never exercise? It also gives me much pleasure in doing the best that I can under the circumstances.


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## Megsmum (Sep 9, 2012)

I agree, things are changing albeit slowly but slowly is better than not changing. Here in my corner of Spain where there are very few “foreign “ led rescue centers, it is the young forging a path for animal welfare, it is the young who run the shelters and the young who educate the public. We have many clubs here, promoting Agility, obedience and disc dog ( a game of frisby throwing whereby dog and owner jump, twist and have fun). In two weeks time I’m supporting a local club that has opened up, it’s a fantastic kennels plus it has an Agility arena, obedience arena and a large pool suitable for families with children and dogs play and have drinks etc. 

In my village there are not many abandoned dogs, in four years we have had three turn up at the Finca, two of which escaped their owners, one of which was thrown over the fence, we found him a home. In local towns the situation is different.

My one wish, is that countries, inc the UK, devise a better licensing program or something, that prevents this never ending breeding of dogs . As I type there are 97000 dogs for sale adverts on mil anuncios, one advert could be for ten puppies. Until countries stop this uncontrolled breeding of dogs we will always have this never ending issue of unwanted dogs here and in the UK. 

But, I agree, things are getting better


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

I agree things are changing and it's good to see local authorities moving in the right direction but I don't agree with the "zero-kill policy". Old, sick, or badly-injured animals with no hope of being adopted should be humanely put to sleep, and resources that would have been spent keeping them alive diverted to things like free neutering programmes.

My neighbour has about ten cats and they are well looked after, but every year she has to drown a load of newborn kittens. She has no steady income and there is no way she can afford to have even one of them neutered. All her spare cash goes on their food and medicines.


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## davexf (Jan 26, 2009)

Hola 

A local charity spent the best part of a thousand euros saving one animal; sorry but if they had put it down then other animals could have had necessary money spent on them. 

There is not a bottomless pit and I wouldn't want to see a animal saved to be told it remained in kennels for years. Any animal saved needs a "for ever" home - home being the operative word. 

I believe Battersea dogs home keeps dogs for a maximum of three weeks; very harsh but they can fill their kennels many times over each week. 

Davexf


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

Alcalaina said:


> I agree things are changing and it's good to see local authorities moving in the right direction but I don't agree with the "zero-kill policy". Old, sick, or badly-injured animals with no hope of being adopted should be humanely put to sleep, and resources that would have been spent keeping them alive diverted to things like free neutering programmes.
> 
> My neighbour has about ten cats and they are well looked after, but every year she has to drown a load of newborn kittens. She has no steady income and there is no way she can afford to have even one of them neutered. All her spare cash goes on their food and medicines.


Zero kill means not killing healthy animals. It's important to understand this. ADANA will euthanise dogs who in the opinion of our vet are suffering and in severe pain from disease or injury.
Zero kill applies to the banning of the killing of healthy dogs merely because, as is the case in commercial 'shelters', no- one has claimed them after ten days. Some local authorities pay such places to collect abandoned animals. Estepona did this until it came to an agreement with ADANA. 

This is an important distinction. We euthanise very few dogs at ADANA as we have an on- site vet and we are able to give preventive care and treat illness whenever possible. But there are occasions when a dog is terminally ill and in pain or a dog has been brought in injured by hunters or in a road accident. Our protocol is that our vet then recommends to me that the dog should be put to sleep and of course I agree to her recommendation 

So zero kill has a very specific meaning.


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

davexf said:


> Hola
> 
> A local charity spent the best part of a thousand euros saving one animal; sorry but if they had put it down then other animals could have had necessary money spent on them.
> 
> ...


Occasionally, not very often, we have a dog who needs a special, expensive operation.
When this occurs and we think the dog has a good chance of adoption we crowd fund to pay for the operation.
Our dogs don't remain in kennels ' for years'. We find homes on average for three hundred plus dogs a year and we rarely have more than a hundred and twenty dogs in our kennels at one time. We rehome not only in Spain but all over Europe and even the USA. Our Adoption Team works hard to find homes for our dogs. We publicise ourselves locally and Europe wide. We work with organisations in the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark and thevrest of Scandinavia.
We do our best to make life good for our dogs whilst awaiting adoption. Thanks to the very many regular volunteers and people who just want to walk with a dog in the countryside around our kennels, every dog gets several walks each week.
Our dogs aren't kept in cages either. They have long runs extending from each covered area so no way are they confined in a small space. They can enjoy fesh air and exercise.
The weather forecast for tomorrow is good so we anticipate up to fifty people visitingto walk dogs and play with the puppies. Some of these people will decide to adopt a dog.
Shelter life isn't gloomy, for our dogs at least.


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

Alcalaina said:


> I agree things are changing and it's good to see local authorities moving in the right direction but I don't agree with the "zero-kill policy". Old, sick, or badly-injured animals with no hope of being adopted should be humanely put to sleep, and resources that would have been spent keeping them alive diverted to things like free neutering programmes.
> 
> My neighbour has about ten cats and they are well looked after, but every year she has to drown a load of newborn kittens. She has no steady income and there is no way she can afford to have even one of them neutered. All her spare cash goes on their food and medicines.


Estepona Ayto has agreed to fund or partially fund castration/ neutering for shelter cats and dogs and to offer free castration/ neutering forpets of people on low incomes. 
They have also agreed to an ongoing programme of CES (catch, sterilise, release) for street cats. 

ADANA, needless to say, had a hand in the drafting of the PSOE motion thatwas passed unanimously..


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

Alcalaina said:


> I agree things are changing and it's good to see local authorities moving in the right direction but I don't agree with the "zero-kill policy". Old, sick, or badly-injured animals with no hope of being adopted should be humanely put to sleep, and resources that would have been spent keeping them alive diverted to things like free neutering programmes.
> 
> My neighbour has about ten cats and they are well looked after, but every year she has to drown a load of newborn kittens. She has no steady income and there is no way she can afford to have even one of them neutered. All her spare cash goes on their food and medicines.


Are you sure there are no subsidized neutering programmes in the area? I know regions differ, but my experience is that there is usually a vet that will offer a reduced price, or there is a special campaign every now and again...
Google _campaña esterilizar gatos Cádiz_ and see what comes up


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## Pazcat (Mar 24, 2010)

TNR has been shown it is fairly inneffective, at least as far as cats are concerned. Can't help but think that money would be better spent on better regulations, education and control in the owned population first.


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

mrypg9 said:


> Zero kill means not killing healthy animals. It's important to understand this. ADANA will euthanise dogs who in the opinion of our vet are suffering and in severe pain from disease or injury.
> Zero kill applies to the banning of the killing of healthy dogs merely because, as is the case in commercial 'shelters', no- one has claimed them after ten days. Some local authorities pay such places to collect abandoned animals. Estepona did this until it came to an agreement with ADANA.
> 
> This is an important distinction. We euthanise very few dogs at ADANA as we have an on- site vet and we are able to give preventive care and treat illness whenever possible. But there are occasions when a dog is terminally ill and in pain or a dog has been brought in injured by hunters or in a road accident. Our protocol is that our vet then recommends to me that the dog should be put to sleep and of course I agree to her recommendation
> ...


Thanks for explaining that.


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

Pesky Wesky said:


> Are you sure there are no subsidized neutering programmes in the area? I know regions differ, but my experience is that there is usually a vet that will offer a reduced price, or there is a special campaign every now and again...
> Google _campaña esterilizar gatos Cádiz_ and see what comes up


There are some on the coast, they catch and sterilize feral cats then clip their ears and release them back onto the street. But nothing comes up for domestic cats. It costs up to €100 for a female.


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## Megsmum (Sep 9, 2012)

many years ago we went to a very small fishing village in Turkey. The village was overrun with dogs and cats of all shapes and sizes. This was a developing village keen to encourage tourism. A farsighted Vet in the village had a programmer of capture, sterilization and release, no fees just donations. It worked well. We visited this resort several times and eventually the population reduced to a manageable level.


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## Isobella (Oct 16, 2014)

Alcalaina said:


> There are some on the coast, they catch and sterilize feral cats then clip their ears and release them back onto the street. But nothing comes up for domestic cats. It costs up to €100 for a female.


A German neighbour and myself did that with the help of our local Vet who was a star. They all lived in a field around the rubbish skips. Surprising how healthy some of them looked after they weren't burdened with litter after litter. Sadly shortly after we left some toe rag decided to poison them.

Some were pregnant as young as 6 months. There is also a problem of cat leukaemia on the coast.

Yes the times they are a changing. There was a story in Sur recently, with an awful photo of a young dog found in a Malaga rubbish tip, At one time those reports would never get in the papers. It did say there are 900 dogs in Malaga pound

What I would also like to see is a campaign to persuade people not to buy pedigree dogs...in all countries.


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

Isobella said:


> A German neighbour and myself did that with the help of our local Vet who was a star. They all lived in a field around the rubbish skips. Surprising how healthy some of them looked after they weren't burdened with litter after litter. Sadly shortly after we left some toe rag decided to poison them.
> 
> Some were pregnant as young as 6 months. There is also a problem of cat leukaemia on the coast.
> 
> ...



We have had three dogs in the past three decades plus, two rescues, one in the UK from Dogs Trust and Xena from ADANA and we must plead guilty to one pedigree, the late and much- loved and missed RR Azor. It was just that we really liked the breed. But if we ever get another dog it will be from ADANA. We would never buy again, knowing what we know now. We do urge people to adopt, don t buy. We have stickers for cars with this slogan.

I think that everything helps, education, publicly- funded castration and neutering programmes, heavy fines for cruelty and abandoning an animal, banning the sale of all domestic animals. 

Yesteday was a fine day, sunny but not too warm up in the sierra. We had so many helpers that every dog able to walk was taken out. Some of our volunteers loaded up our van and took a few dogs out to Estepona Port for a walk, to help them get used to people and traffic. Adoptions are a bit slow this month, only seventeen so far but we're taking dogs to our annual Dog Show at the Estepona Palacio de Congresos a week this Sunday and we usually manage to get one or two adopted there.

This morning I went to give a talk on British politics 1945 to 1997 to Sixth Formers at a private school in Marbella. I was surprised and delighted to be given €200 which the students had collected for ADANA. Many young people are very aware of animal rights issues.


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## thrax (Nov 13, 2008)

There is a vet fairly local to us who charges far less than any other vet I know for neutering. Some friends of ours who are desperately short of money recently discovered their female dog was pregnant. On our advice they took the dog to this vet. The vet said she was very pleased they took this decision as there are far too many homeless dogs in this area. The cost of neutering, at that stage of pregnancy, was €200. The dog had 9 puppies who all had to be euthanised. But because the vet knew our friends are very short of cash they reduced the charge to €1000 and let them pay €10 per month. We need more vets like this...


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## Poloss (Feb 2, 2017)

I met a retired Brit pub owner last year in Orgiva (Alpajurras) called Angela who'd paid out of her own pocket to neuter over 1000 stray dogs over the last (12?) years. I'd known the town decades before, overrun with hungry, sick animals. She's changed the face of the town as far as that's concerned. Bravo.

Times are changing in France too. Animal protection militants (called L214) regularly conceal cameras in slaughterhouses and several series of repeated acts of wanton cruelty have been widely mediatised. Slaughterhouses have been closed pending improvements in procedure, hefty fines dealt out and workers forbidden for life to work in slaughterhouses.

Anything similar in Spain?


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