Reader: I was reading that keeping practically all pets has been banned in Spain. This may be useful for Gazette to look into as a lot of readers may be affected.
From Spectrum FM Costa Almeria FB:
The Animal Welfare Law has already taken shape after the tension aroused between the coalition partners of the Government and it only remains for it to be approved, this 2023, by the Congress of Deputies.
Although not all the details of the new law are known, it is known that it will have a positive list of pets that will include the species that can be kept at home and can be bought and sold and other species that, due to the ecological or public health risk they pose, may no longer be kept as pets.
Likewise, the norm, among other issues, prohibits cockfighting, pigeon shooting, the use of spikes or choking collars, electrical devices that cause damage, or carrying animals tied to moving motor vehicles. In addition, it establishes that zoos and dolphinariums will have to be progressively converted into recovery centers for native species and ends the sale of animals in pet stores.
Prohibited Pets
But as far as pets are concerned, there are eight species that can no longer be kept as pets and whose possession involves penalties of up to 200,000 euros.
Thus, in the first place, spiders are prohibited, since they can be carriers of dangerous diseases for human beings. Nor will it be possible to make some non-native bird species as pets, such as parrots, lovebirds and parakeets.
For its part, an animal that became fashionable a few years ago, can no longer be kept at home, it is Vietnamese pigs and the reason for their absence from the positive list is that there is a risk of overpopulation and they are normally abandoned. which makes them mix with other wild boars.
Rabbits and rodents, including hamsters, guinea pigs and chinchillas, are also prohibited, as are hedgehogs and raccoons, the latter due to their degree of aggressiveness and the danger of overpopulation.
Finally, exotic reptiles such as snakes, iguanas, lizards, chameleons or geckos of non-native species and turtles, vulnerable species that compete for survival with other species and that are vectors of pathogens, are also not included in the positive list.
Regards
Paul Craddock