Animal-rights party Progreso en Verde is demanding the urgent establishment of an animal protection office. This follows the recent poisoning of fifteen cats in Can Picafort and Muro.
A statement from the party says that it trusts that these cases are not simply forgotten, as has happened with the cat tortured to death in Manacor in August and the dog in Lanzarote which suffered in the same way, also in August.
Calling for authorities to change their mentality, the president of Progreso en Verde, Guillermo Amengual, has praised the efforts of volunteers who look after cat colonies and has requested greater support for these volunteers. "For years we have been calling for the creation of an animal protection office to protect animals and to corner abusers."
Amengual argues that there should be a 24-hour helpline for the reporting of animal mistreatment and for the monitoring of compliance with municipal ordinance regarding animal welfare. He is wanting an urgent change to the penal code so that there are tougher penalties. Those who commit animal abuse "are extremely dangerous people". "If they are capable of killing an animal one day, who knows if they might kill a person the next day."
He is critical of Podemos, whose parliamentary group voted with PSOE and Més against there being such an office. Podemos, Amengual insists, should work "to protect animals". "They only appear in the media when there are cases involving cats and dogs. For them, horses, bulls, dolphins, elephants don't exist."