How cruel and heartless can some people be?
As winter closes in and temperatures fall someone (or some people) have seen fit to remove make the shift shelters, blankets and feeders which constituted the precarious home for a cat colony in the park near the library.
Between January 10 and 11 unknown people dismantled the cats precarious home, removing feeders, a wooden crate with blankets and a cardboard box with warm clothes, leaving the cats with no protection against the elements.
Under the new Animal Welfare Law these animals have rights and it is the responsibility of everyone, from private citizens to the Town Hall, to respect and protect them.
The following day. membes of the CatFriendly Association, a pressure group which fights for the rights of cat colonies, peacefully and without fanfare, provisionally arranged some carriers provided by neighbors who voluntarily provided the kittens with temporary shelter against these approaching days of rain and cold.
As winter closes in and temperatures fall someone (or some people) have seen fit to remove make the shift shelters, blankets and feeders which constituted the precarious home for a cat colony in the park near the library.
Between January 10 and 11 unknown people dismantled the cats precarious home, removing feeders, a wooden crate with blankets and a cardboard box with warm clothes, leaving the cats with no protection against the elements.
Under the new Animal Welfare Law these animals have rights and it is the responsibility of everyone, from private citizens to the Town Hall, to respect and protect them.
The following day. membes of the CatFriendly Association, a pressure group which fights for the rights of cat colonies, peacefully and without fanfare, provisionally arranged some carriers provided by neighbors who voluntarily provided the kittens with temporary shelter against these approaching days of rain and cold.
Yesterday the Association placed two posters on the wall containing national and international laws, which remind citizens that animals have rights and that it is the obligation of all of us to respect and protect them.
A spokesman for the CatFriendly Association said: «The two actions described above, providing temporary shelter to cats and placing signs exposing their rights, are the absolute responsibility of our Association and we assume the consequences that could result from them».
Editors Note
Editors Note
In the past residents in Calasparra who fed cat colonies have been reported by their neighbours and have been fined. Under the new law this should be a thing of the past. However, there clearly needs to be a local Awareness Campaign to underline the rights of these cats so incidents like these do not ocurr, or, ideally, the local authority lives up to its responsibilities and neuters the cats and provides them with appropriate care and shelter.
