Animal rights groups and pet shop owners marched in separate demonstrations on Sunday to protest a new animal welfare law proposed by the Spanish government that seeks to advance the protection of animal rights.
The bill has fueled criticism from animal rights groups after a last-minute amendment excluded hunting dogs from the protection of the law, satisfying demands from hunter lobbies.
Under the slogan ‘same dogs, same law’, thousands marched in Madrid and dozens of other Spanish cities in coordinated demonstrations to urge the government to reinstate the hunting dog law, which increases fines for animal abuse at $216,000 and introduces a possible two-year prison sentence for the most serious cases.
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People protest against the exclusion of some animals from the new animal protection law, Madrid, Spain, February 5, 2023. (AP Photo/Paolo Bianco)
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The abandonment of thousands of greyhounds at the end of each hunting season has attracted social attention in recent years in Spain, where the adoption of these animals as pets has seen considerable success as people realize the harsh conditions that many of them endure in the countryside. Greyhounds are used to hunt animals such as rabbits and pheasants.
‘No hunting’ platform spokesperson David Rubio said Spain is not only the only country left in Europe that allows hunting with dogs, it also holds the record for most abandoned dogs in the EU .
A few streets away, pet shop owners protested, saying they will be forced to close their businesses under the new law because it only allows licensed breeders to sell cats, dogs and ferrets. Thousands of jobs will be lost, they say, and the black market in pets and exotic animals will grow.
