San Bartolomé de Tirajana is the first municipality to begin sterilizing community cats

 

The San Bartolomé de Tirajana City Council has started the mass sterilization campaign of urban cat colonies in compliance with the new Law on the Protection of Animal Rights and Welfare (7/2023) that came into force on September 29. .

 

The first action organized by the Department of Health directed by Councilor Araceli Armas Cruz took place last week and has affected 10 cats belonging to two colonies in the tourist area of ​​San Agustín, which were dewormed, neutered and microchipped at the Albergue Insular de Animals. The managers responsible for the colonies collaborated in the capture of the felines, and the transfer to Bañaderos was carried out in individual transporters to avoid stress for the animals. 

 

 

 

With this operation, San Bartolomé de Tirajana becomes the first municipality to undertake a massive cat operation within the insular program for the management of urban feline colonies that the Cabildo and the town councils are carrying out with the collaboration of the Official College of Veterinarians from Las Palmas. 

 

The second massive action of sterilization and microchipping of urban cats is scheduled for next Tuesday, October 24 and will also take place in Bañaderos since the joint intervention of 4 or 5 veterinarians is required. The rest of the 80 pending actions until the quota corresponding to San Bartolomé de Tirajana is completed will be formalized later through the veterinary centers of the municipality that participate in the island campaign.

 

 

The new animal legislation imposes on city councils - in its article 39 - the obligation to manage those colonies of 'community cats' that live in freedom linked to a territory where they subsist with a greater or lesser degree of socialization. This management involves the tasks of feeding, census registration, health and deworming control, microchipping and also the control and population reduction of the colonies through veterinary sterilization.

Precisely to inform about the content of this new Animal Protection and Welfare Law, the Department of Health organized a meeting on October 4 with the managers of the municipality's feline colonies.