The Junta de Andalucía has sanctioned with a fine of 2,001 euros, the minimum established by the Andalusian Animal Protection Law for infractions considered very serious, to the brotherhood that used disguised pigeons in Alcalá la Real (Jaén), within the framework of the events held on February 2 on the occasion of the Candelaria festival.
As reported by the National Association for the Protection and Welfare of Animals (Anpba), which filed the complaint before the Andalusian Government Delegation, the brotherhood proceeded to voluntarily pay the penalty and the fine was legally reduced by 40 percent, in application of article 85 of the 2015 Law of Administrative Procedure, so that the final sanction, at the time of its payment, has remained at 1,200 euros.
Anpba has underlined in a statement that despite the many social criticisms that could have been generated by this use of pigeons at the Candelaria festival, the fact is that "only the formal administrative complaint became an essential procedure to obtain a sufficient legal guarantee for the effects of the fact that meat and bone animals (pigeons) were no longer used".
Likewise, Anpba has highlighted that, after knowing the opening of the disciplinary file, it was the mayor of Alcalá la Real himself, Marino Aguilera, who recognized on his public Facebook wall that "with the law in hand, they will no longer be able to be used pigeons in Candelaria", while he was confident that alternatives can be found to keep alive the tradition of disguised pigeons in Candelaria.
