ARCHIVED - Murcia animal shelter faces serious overcrowding as zero sacrifice law takes effect

Overcrowding at the Murcia zoonosis centre due to new zero sacrifice law

The swift introduction of the “zero sacrifice” law for stray and abandoned cats and dogs in the Region of Murcia has met with considerable opposition from zoonosis centres and animal shelters, who have warned that they have insufficient financial, human and material resources to care for all of the animals they take in, and a report published in La Opinión on Friday highlights the difficulties already being faced at the municipal zoonosis of Murcia.

Located in La Albatalía, just outside the city of Murcia, the centre is rigorously implementing the new regulations, meaning that no animals are being put down except on documented veterinary advice. People do adopt some of the strays, of course, but at present the facilities are being stretched to close to their limit, with 51 dogs and 3 cats being housed there.

That is not an exceptionally high figure, but among the dogs as many as 19 belong to potentially dangerous breeds, such as boxers, Dobermans, pit bulls and rottweilers, or show signs of aggression in their behaviour. This makes it far less likely that they will be taken in by a family, and with all of them in good health the number of animals falling into this category is only likely to grow.

Furthermore, as they are categorized as dangerous or potentially dangerous, these dogs cannot share cages and pens with others.

Organizations like the Murcia zoonosis centre find themselves in a difficult situation under the new law. Either they have to invest considerable amounts in amplifying their premises and capacity, or there will have to be a very sharp decrease in the number of animals taken in, and this latter possibility is of course extremely unlikely to occur suddenly. For this reason they have demanded a transition period of at least two years before a full ban on euthanasia, allowing time for the legislation to take effect and for shelters, Town Halls and pounds to adapt as necessary.

Sources at the federation of Town Halls of the Region of Murcia were quoted last month as commenting “We don’t want a pretty law, we want one which works, and this is not it”.

But in the meantime, many Town Halls view it as inevitable that they will be “involuntarily” in breach of the new legislation, as to completely stop putting animals down would bring about a collapse in the organizations which currently deal with stray and abandoned animals. It can be safely assumed that these people do not enjoy having to put animals down, but as things stand at present it is simply not realistic for them to implement a law which, on the face of it, they would dearly love to abide by.

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