Palma City Council has delayed final approval of the new Animal Ordinance until the end of the legislature and wants to wait for approval of the State Law on Animal Rights & Protection, which is currently being processed in Parliament.
"It seems more reasonable to wait for this law to be processed and then adapt the municipal ordinance," said Environment & Animal Welfare Councillor, Ramon Perpinyà.
“At first, the Council's approach was to implement the ordinance because it seemed that the approval of the State Law was taking a long time and we didn’t want to wait three or four years, but now things have changed. It doesn’t make sense to approve an ordinance if a law is being processed on the same subject, and then have to make modifications. If we did it now we could find that we approved an ordinance that is contradictory or does not comply with State Law, which would not be logical. It is a transitory situation but it is the most prudent thing to do.”
Councillor Perpinyà added that a draft of the State Law contains some changes to current regulations, including the treatment of potentially dangerous dog breeds, or PPP.
“The law no longer refers to breeds but to animals, so PPP will depend on the behaviour of the dog not the breed and on whether the animal in question is well educated and calm,” he said.
Deadline
Councillor Perpinyà estimates that the new law could be in force within seven or eight months, but if there are a lot of objections it could take longer, so it’s unlikely to be approved before 2023.