Goodbye to seeing puppies that cause tenderness in a store window. Starting next week, on September 29, its exhibition will be prohibited thanks to the new Animal Welfare Law. Although some known regulations, such as the need to have insurance for pets, will not yet be mandatory because the current Government is in office, José Miguel Doval, president of the Royal Canine Society of Spain (RSCE), assesses for La Vanguardia the implications of this new legislation.
Adaptation to the law by citizens will be easier than it seems, says José Miguel Doval, although he sees problems as to how compliance with the new regulations can be monitored.
Having a dog was as simple as finding one abandoned on the street and taking it home. Now it won't be like that anymore. Do you think that citizens will know how to adapt to the new regulations?
I think there really aren't that many changes. Many of the things covered by this law are already covered by regulations at the municipal and regional level. The thing is that it has had a lot of impact at the public level and there is this perception that before you didn't have to do anything to have an animal and now you will have to do many things. If we analyze the changes compared to the previous situation, there are not so many. What this law tries to do is harmonize all existing regulations to provide a common framework and ensure that there are no differences between territories. When the confusion phase is overcome, people will see that they don't have to do big things.
Have you already noticed that there are dog breeders who are regularizing their situation, according to the new law?
What we have noticed from the breeders is a lot of concern and interest in seeing what they have to do. The law does not give exact guidelines on what the activity of breeders should be because that is left to a future regulatory development that should already be very advanced. However, we have had this intermission of municipal elections and then the general ones. Breeders are waiting, above all, to see regulations such as that of zoological centers, which is the one in which they will see the requirements that will be demanded of them most reflected. Until now, many people have been raised in a kind of legality. Breeders who do not make a professional living from this had no way of regulating their activity.
And what will happen to illegal dog breeders?
In this activity, as in any other, there are always black sheep. The more control mechanisms we have, the more we can stay on top of it and know that dogs are raised in appropriate conditions. That is why we think it is so important that the law covers and recognizes those small breeders who have dogs at home, who breed in a family way because they like the breed of dogs they have and want to do a job throughout the years. years to improve that breed, etc. Regarding those who have a livestock-style facility, it seems to us that in the case of dogs it is not the most appropriate because the dog always needs direct contact and interaction with people and with the family, which perhaps in that type of facilities you cannot have it. The law is now going to provide a series of mechanisms so that this can be controlled much better, always helped by the fundamental activity of the Civil Guard with Seprona and other State security forces, since if it can be prosecuted, that type can be prosecuted. of performances.
Regarding civil liability insurance, why is it important to have it? What situations have occurred until now in which it was needed?
What people have to understand is that this insurance is made primarily to protect them. In the event that our pet or dog, in this case, causes an accident due to any circumstance (because it escapes from the leash and causes a man to fall from a bicycle and get injured or any situation that can occur to everyday level) that the damages caused by that situation will be covered by that insurance, then we will not have to respond with our assets. Most of the dogs we have at home, in principle, would be covered by home insurance. The only thing you have to do is contact our company and ask about the coverage we have in our home insurance and if the pets are collected inside. Furthermore, it is not excessively expensive insurance. We have been doing a study looking at the offers on the market right now and an average insurance for a normal dog that is neither a dog nor a very small dog nor a dog would be around 25 or 30 euros per year.
If starting this September 29 a person wants to have a pet, what steps should they follow? Where should I take the course, for example?
The problem we always have when there is any new law or even laws that have been around for a long time is that later the application sometimes leaves much to be desired. A Civil Law professor I had many years ago said that in Spain we were specialists in drafting mandatory laws because they were made, but then no one ensured that they were complied with. This law is very broad, very complex, it has many points. The difficulty is in applying the objectives you seek. I think that's going to take a long time to get right. What we recommend to people is that if they follow responsible ownership guidelines, they should not worry because they will be within any law that exists or that arises.
What will this mandatory course be like?
About the course, we have to wait for it to be developed. What I can tell you is that it will be a very simple and free thing and very easy to overcome that will be done online, which will not have any major difficulty. It is not yet known whether it will be taught by the corresponding ministry or the autonomous communities. There will be a test that will give us basic information so that we understand what we are facing when we decide to have a pet and the responsibilities that this entails. Having a pet is not a whim, but rather we are bringing a living being into the home that will live with us for a number of years. In addition, he will live with the rest of the people who are in our home and our environment, such as neighbors.
How can greyhounds not be included in this law affect greyhounds?
It is not a specific issue for greyhounds. In one of the last modifications of the text, with an amendment introduced by the Socialist Party, what was done was to remove a series of dogs from this law. Basically they were dogs that are dedicated to a series of specific jobs, sports, and that's where hunting dogs come in. More than hunting dogs, we should talk about hunting dogs. In all the autonomies we have legislation on animal welfare, so it is not that they are going to be outside of there, but rather that they are not going to strictly submit to what the law states at the national level.
About the new name of 'special handling dogs'. Is it a euphemism or are there really breeds that are not as dangerous as previously thought?
It is not that there has been a great advance for these dogs because they will have to continue complying with the requirements established by the law, but many times the language is important and the new name is less stigmatizing. The problem is that there are different races included in lists that change depending on the autonomous community. They are dogs with certain characteristics that in the hands of the wrong people can pose a danger, but that does not mean that they are dangerous in and of themselves. If we are dealing with an issue as important as animal welfare, having a dog subjected to the conditions established by the current law simply because it is a breed without taking into account its particular characteristics, seems unfair to us. The system that was going to be adopted seemed much better to us, of being able to evaluate each dog individually and whether or not it had to be subjected to these special handling conditions, but we will have to continue fighting there.
How will compliance with the law be monitored? Especially thinking about more rural, isolated areas or towns where the relationship with pets is different than in cities.
We always told the General Directorate of Animal Rights that the law is very good, but how were we going to implement that. In the end, such a complex rule requires an enormous budget allocation: you have to involve police officers at different levels, administrations at different levels and it is not easy. In the end it is a mechanism so that in the event that there is a problem, a complaint can be filed and the weight of the law falls. What is daily compliance and daily application is going to be difficult, especially in certain areas in rural areas more than in cities.
Why was such a law necessary?
It was necessary to have a modern national law that harmonized and served as a basis for all regional laws. Right now we have regulations that in some points are very different from one community to another and that honestly does not seem logical. Animal welfare is an increasingly important issue in all modern societies and therefore must be expressed in law.
How do you imagine a society where there is animal welfare?
I believe that the ideal future, for those of us who like animals and especially dogs, is that we do not encounter recurring situations, not just abandonment. The normal thing was to find along the highways two, three or more dogs run over and dead in the ditch due to this abandonment. There will never be a 100% end to abandonment and abuse of animals, but we can ensure that this is minimized as much as possible. Gandhi said that a society is valued by the way it treats its animals. I am satisfied that everyone cares for and treats their animals like the majority of the people who work with us in our association do.
