EU ban on the massacre of dogs in the Spanish perreras
22.2.2012
Question for written answer E-002062/2012
to the Commission
Rule 117
Andrea Zanoni (ALDE)
For months, numerous citizens and animal welfare agencies such as ENPA, AIDAA, GALCI, Una Zampa per la Spagna (a paw for Spain), Ayandena and Progetto Animalista (Animal Project) have been condemning what has been happening in the Spanish perreras, dog pounds where stray or abandoned dogs are kept.
These associations, which make every effort to buy dogs from these facilities, have reported that if these animals are not adopted within a dozen days or so of being caught, they are put to sleep with gas, with neurosuppressors, or by much crueller methods, as has been happening in several perreras in Southern Spain in Jerez, Rioja, Seville and Badajoz, for example.
To adopt a dog, the procedure stipulates that they must be ‘reserved’. However, the aforementioned associations criticise the fact that there are regular cases in which dogs that have been reserved are put to sleep for no reason, or they are put to sleep ahead of schedule due to festivals, bank holidays or for other reasons relating to employee ‘requirements’. The authorites pay EUR 80 to the perrera for each dog that is caught and then killed, while citizens who want to adopt one of the dogs have to pay between EUR 40 and EUR 80.
Fortunately, in the city of Valencia there is a positive example of a perrera, run by an Italian citizen, where animal welfare is a priority and dogs are not put to sleep, but looked after and vaccinated.
Today in the EU, there is no legislation safeguarding pet welfare, despite the fact that there are an estimated hundred million pets across the EU[1].
- —In light of this information, can the Commission state whether the aforementioned Spanish perreras receive any EU funding?
- —In relation to Article 13 of the Treaty of Lisbon, which considers animals to be sentient beings, and in view of the undeniable, growing interest from citizens in all Member States regarding animal welfare, does the Commission not consider it to be a priority to draw up legislation, as soon as possible, that guarantees a minimum level of protection for these animals across the entire EU, starting with an explicit ban on killing them?
- —Could this long-awaited measure form part of the proposal for a simplified EU legislative framework for animal welfare, scheduled for 2014, as stated in the annex to the recent European Union Strategy for the Protection and Welfare of Animals 2012-2015[2]?
- [1] http://www.eupaw.eu/
- [2] COM(2012)0006 final
OJ C 210 E, 24/07/2013