The Animalist Party with the Environment (Pacma) and the association for the defense of animal rights Lex Ànima have announced the presentation of complaints "through criminal proceedings" against the people who last Friday, March 3, during a demonstration of farmers in Lleida, "they threw live and dead rabbits at the doors of the Territorial Services of Agriculture" in this demarcation.
The party and the animal association consider that these actions could have involved a "crime of animal abuse resulting in death", for which they announce that they will undertake "legal actions in order to clarify the facts and ensure that the persons responsible are prosecuted for the damage done."
The animalists point out that images from the media shared on social networks show that during the farmers' protest in Lleida in which more actions were demanded to reduce the impact of wild rabbits on crops in the area, "it is observed how rabbits are dumped, some dead and some still alive, and end up being trampled to the ground by the riot of farmers."
A note released by Pacma also details that the images show "that a local police agent warns [the rest of the agents] to surround them [the demonstrators], but his instructions seem to be ignored, something that could even suppose a possible omission of the duty to prosecute crimes with respect to the agents who were witnessing the events".
"It is intolerable. From Pacma and Lex Ànima we regret that the protesters have not found another more effective and humane way of expressing themselves and that they have charged against the animals once again. These animal organizations recall that" farmers "demand" the administration for permission to use nocturnal nets, hunt at night, hunting for free while the supposed plague lasts, and even the use of compounds that are extremely toxic to living beings, such as aluminum phosphide."
Contrary to the farmers' complaint, Pacma assures that "a technical report provided by the association of lawyers Lex Ànima on the situation of rabbits in crop fields in some areas of Catalonia clarifies that the main causes of this overpopulation that is affecting crops are caused by human intervention". Among the causes of the increase in the number of rabbits, this animal entity points out, "the disappearance of natural predators (mainly birds of prey, foxes and wolves; the latter pieces of great value for hunting); food concentration (cultivation fields favor their reproduction, facilitating access to almost unlimited food); changes in agricultural management (elimination of hedges and bushes that provide them with shelter); increase in cultivated area and artificial reintroduction of species".
Pacma indicates that this same Lex Ànima report "warns of the environmental disaster that could occur if the use of a compound as toxic to life as aluminum phosphide is authorized, which could affect not only rabbits, but the whole the trophic chain including plants and humans".
"Aluminum phosphide is a biocide that can accumulate in the soil and groundwater. It affects the respiration and metabolism of cells, causing the death of the animal that ingests it or breathes the gases derived from its contact with the moisture," says Pacma.
The two animal organizations that announce the presentation of actions for the possibly criminal action ask farmers to "analyze the underlying problem and not only the consequences of decades of negligent management of biodiversity." "Neither hunting, nor poisons nor violence solve anything; quite the contrary, they increase the conflict", conclude Pacma and Lex Ànima in the joint note released.
