The conditions of lack of hygiene and overcrowding in which many of the more than 400 animals were found, including dogs and cats, that a large police force recovered on Wednesday from a criminal organization allegedly dedicated to illegal pet trafficking, are shocking.
This Friday, four of the eleven detainees will be brought to justice. This is a 36-year-old man of Spanish nationality, considered the mastermind and person responsible for the plot, his number two and a veterinarian who worked in a clinic on Numancia Street in Barcelona and who had no qualms about signing false documentation to facilitate the sale of animals.
The device is unprecedented. For the first time, an investigating judge, that of the 23rd of Barcelona, led an investigation group made up of Mossos d'Esquadra, Barcelona Urban Police, Civil Guard, National Police and the Andorran police.
An investigation that on Wednesday was exploited with entries and records, the recovery of the animals and eleven arrests and that had the selfless and essential participation of dozens of veterinarians.
Each of the rescued dogs and cats was checked on site by a veterinarian. Among the animals recovered from the evil of the suspects are several dogs with day-old puppies that were crammed into tiny spaces, without cleaning or care.
All animals will undergo a two-week quarantine period after which the procedures for transferring them to people interested in adopting them will begin, while the judicial investigation lasts. The animal protection offices of each of the municipalities to which the dogs and cats have been transferred will be in charge of managing this transfer.
The dogs and cats are in the care of associations and shelters that have provided temporary shelter. But these are animals, most of them puppies, that will require a lot of care, especially emotional care because they have spent their entire lives locked in a cage without love.
