A EUROPEAN directive on animal protection will finally enter Spanish law and come into force in February – 30 years after it was passed.
Among other requisites, the new law will ban docking or removing tails, cutting ears and de-clawing unless they are for purely medical reasons, meaning these practices for aesthetic means, to stop cats ruining furniture or to make hunting hounds more aggressive by slicing their ears off will now be outlawed.
Anyone who attempts to carry out any of these operations on their domestic animals will be refused by the vet.
The law was due to go live in Spain 10 years ago, but the right-wing PP – then in opposition – blocked it by pushing for an amendment allowing de-clawing, tail-removal and ear-cutting to still be allowed.
This amendment was instantly rejected by the then socialist (PSOE) government, and the impasse was never resolved.
Now with the reigning PP government in a minority, it has been overruled on the 'cosmetic surgery' aspect.
In fact, other than sterilisation, no other surgery may be carried out on domestic animals except for therapeutic means.
The law, which will come into force in Spain on February 1, 2018 – having been approved in Strasbourg on November 13, 1987 – will also require authorities to actively promote dogs and cats being sterilised, a practice that remains shrouded in urban myth in Spain.
Many pet-owners still believe neutering or spaying their cats and dogs makes them 'fat and lazy', although medically, there is no evidence that doing so makes any difference to animals' body weight or behaviour; in fact, those who sterilise their pets in an attempt to calm them down are usually disappointed.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com