Friday 9th and Saturday 10th of December, the Plenary Hall of the Island Council of Menorca in Maó will host the first Animal Protection and Welfare Conference on the island, organised by the public administration and with national guests, which will offer a full programme of talks and debates open to all citizens and aimed especially at people who are personally or professionally related to animals. The Insular Animal Service has organised this conference in conjunction with the two animal shelters of Ciutadella and Maó, as well as the internationally renowned Coordinating Committee of Professionals for the Prevention of Abuse (CoPPA).

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At a press conference this Tuesday, the island’s Director of Employment, Innovation and Local Cooperation, Nati Benejam, explained that with this first Animal Protection and Welfare Conference of the Consell Insular we are facing some of the challenges of our society such as “improving healthy coexistence between people and animals as well as providing training for professionals such as veterinarians, municipal places and local police in the new legal frameworks governing the welfare of animals”.

The conference and its presentations, round tables and debates begin on Friday at half past nine in the morning and continue throughout the day until half past six in the evening. On Saturday 10th – coinciding with International Animal Rights Day – they will be held in the morning from 10 am until half past two.
The contents are organised in the following six blocks: the legal system and possibilities of action in animal protection; the link between animal abuse and violence against people; intervention of the security forces in matters of animal abuse; urban fauna, exotic and wild animals, popular festivals; animals as part of our society and animal rights, legislative changes and the importance of animal shelters and the role of the administration.

Among the fifteen or so speakers and guests, the presence of Sergio García Torres, Director General for Animal Rights of the Spanish Government, as well as professionals with many years of experience in animal issues such as Manuel Molina, President of the Balearic Association of Lawyers for Animal Rights (ABADA); Amparo Requena, President of the Valencian Lawyers for Animal Defence; Marta Tafalla, Doctor of Animal Rights and Animal Rights, and Amparo Requena, President of the Valencian Lawyers for Animal Defence; Marta Tafalla, Doctor of Philosophy and professor at the Autonomous University of Barcelona; Lorena Manrique, forensic psychologist; María González Lacabex, lawyer; Pedro Moratalla, coordinator of the Environmental and Animal Protection Unit of the Local Police of Castellón; Pedro García, lieutenant of the Nature Protection Service – SEPRONA – of the Civil Guard of the Balearic Islands of Mallorca and Antoni Marí Enseñat, veterinary expert. The animal shelters of Ciutadella and Maó, which run the Consell Insular’s animal shelters in both cities and which provide this service and others with the help of an agreement with the Consell Insular itself, will also participate.

Councillor Cristina Gómez of the Department of Employment, Housing and Local Cooperation, which includes the Island Animal Shelter Service, praised the management of the public service being carried out by the animal shelters, which, she said, demonstrates that the third sector, characterised by its non-profit nature and the collaboration of volunteers, can perfectly guarantee the successful management of the services that the public administration is obliged to provide. Councillor Gómez also recalled that these conferences, which were already planned to take place before the start of the pandemic in 2020, are taking place at a very appropriate time because it will be possible to debate the draft law on animals, among other issues.

Alba Lledó, from the Ciutadella Animal Protection Society and director of its Animal Shelter Centre, stressed that “attending this conference is a very good opportunity to clear up doubts about the treatment of animals and to train police professionals in specific animal-related issues”. For her part, Marga Pons, from the Maó animal protection organisation and director of its animal shelter, pointed out that we have “very outdated regulations – 30 years old – and that in cases of infringement of the law, the police must have specific knowledge of the regulations, whether they be the ones we have now, which are 30 years old, or the new laws that are being processed, which look towards the future, towards animal welfare, which does not exist now”. These are issues that can be of interest “to all citizens and it is also training for professionals”.