The Curious New Laws Regarding Pets

 

I imagine that most of us have had a pet in the house since we were of the tenderest age all those years ago.

I certainly did.

What was yours called?

No, don’t tell me, or I’ll have your password figured out.

Now we read that, while some of the Animal Welfare Law hasn’t yet been ratified thanks to a conspicuous lack of government, other bits of it have. We don’t need to take lessons in how to entertain a pooch (which we have done, as above, since we started. After all, one is pretty much there with Walkies, Din-dins and Down Boy!).

But, let’s see – one can no longer take the dog out to go shopping and leave him tied to a post outside while we pick up a box of milk, some chocolates, a tin of dog-food and a free English-language paper (to wrap it all up in).

There’s anything up to a ten thousand euro fine if you are caught. More, probably, if your mascota (the Spanish name for pet) bites the nice policeman during the inevitable altercation.

To cure this problem, supermarkets have beggars which sit, slumped, outside the entrance. For a small consideration, they’ll be happy to look after Fido and you will be able to shop at your leisure.

Maybe throw in an extra tin of Chum for the hobo’s dog, or indeed a frosty can of beer for the deadbeat himself.

We must now take more care and not leave our dogs in the house alone for long – or chained up outside either.

Felines have a bit more liberty, as is only proper, but run the risk of returning home through the upstairs window a few grams lighter that when they left having been caught by one of those peculiar catch-neuter-release people that are always leaving food out for the feral cats.

There is also a list of pets which we just flatly aren’t allowed to keep. It’s easier just to note the few one can – which pretty much comes down to dog, cat, ferret (who on earth keeps a ferret for a pet?), tropical fish and that thing you shouldn’t get wet or feed after midnight.

All this, plus the looming dog insurance at around twenty-five euros a pop (while a very good idea as any postman will tell you), which may be beneficial to our furry (or scaly) friends as the legislators provided; although I rather think that there will be more than a few accidents or inexplicable losses of surplus critters of one sort or another reported in the inside pages.

Some causes in Spain remain sacred, and hunting dogs and fighting bulls, of course, need not apply.       

 

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El Comercio has an exhaustive list of the new Animal Welfare Law do’s and don’ts here.