Spain´s New Pet Laws & Animal DNI Explained
The Spanish Government is set to introduce a series of new pet laws aimed at controling the industry, increasing owner responsibilities as well as bolstering animal rights in the country.
Other proposed measures in the bill are aimed at increasing owner responsibilities including the requirement for people to do a training course on how to look after pets before being allowed to adopt them.
Pets will no longer be able to be put down by their owners unless certified by a vet, who will need to sign a death certificate indicating the medical reason.
In addition, puppies and kittens will no longer be able to be displayed in pet shop windows and instead, dogs and cats will only be able to be purchased from professional breeders or registered animal rescue shelters.
There will also be a limit of five pets per household, although this won’t be applied retroactively.
It will also be an offence to leave dogs tied permanently to posts, keep them in basements or balconies or leave them unattended for more than 24 hours.
In the event that a pet goes missing, the owner has 48 to register it or it will be considered abandonment which carries an increased fine of up to 100.000 Euros.
According to the Affinity Foundation some 138,000 pets are abandoned in Spain each year.
Common causes of pet abandonment include, unwanted litters, behavioural issues, loss of interest, financial hardship and then annual ending of the hunting season.
