The Ministry of Belarra proposes to the PSOE to exclude hunting dogs from the animal welfare law while they participate in hunting activities

The Minister of Social Rights, Ione Belarra, last November in Congress. Fernando Sánchez (Europa Press)

Podemos wants to unblock the Animal Protection and Welfare Law, paralyzed in Congress since last September, as soon as possible.

The Social Rights project, the department headed by Ione Belarra, was approved by the Council of Ministers on August 1, but a PSOE amendment to leave hunting dogs out of the text has slowed down its parliamentary process due to disagreement between the partners.

The ministry has transferred this Wednesday to the socialist group a proposal to exclude these animals only while they participate in hunting activities.

The initiative, inspired by the autonomous law of Castilla-La Mancha in force since 2020, is an intermediate way to get out of one of the coalition's stuck regulations.

The legislation of the Government of Emiliano García-Page considers that the person responsible for hunting dogs cannot guarantee compliance with the obligations to "care for and protect animals from attacks, dangerous situations, inconveniences and annoyances that other people or animals may cause them” and that of “avoiding aggression or inconvenience of the animal to people or other animals, as well as the production of another type of damage” during the exercise of hunting.

According to Social Rights sources, "this exception, however, does not imply that they can be mistreated, assaulted, caused some type of suffering or abandoned, in which case the sanctioning procedure included in the Law would be applied to them."

What the department of the general secretary of Podemos proposes, therefore, is that these animals are exempt from the sanctioning application only while they practice the exercise of hunting.

"The rest of the time the law applies to them like any other dog," say ministry sources, who believe that this route would allow hunters and socialists "to see their demands collected."

For the moment, the main party of the Executive is limited to answering that they will “analyze and give an answer” to the department.

In September, after the PSOE signed its worst results in the Andalusian regional elections —and partly attributed that failure to the discontent of the hunting sector with the Government—, the socialist group registered an amendment in Congress to exclude of the future law to hunting dogs and other animals that carry out specific tasks (sports, herding, rescue or security tasks with the Armed Forces).

In exchange, the majority partner of the Government announced the elaboration of specific legislation for hunting dogs, rehalas, falconry birds and auxiliary hunting animals, in line with the demands of the sector.

United We Can then rejected the proposal.

“Abuse is abuse regardless of what the animal does.

Or is it that the PSOE is in favor of hanging a dog from a tree,

After three months and to avoid the definitive blocking of the norm in an electoral year —with autonomic, municipal and general— in which it will be very difficult to unblock a large part of the legislation pending in the Cortes, Social Rights has decided to seek an intermediate solution and the socialists and the rest of the groups have sent a compromise amendment in the same terms as the law of Castilla-La Mancha.

The department of Belarra, in addition, has convened a new meeting with the hunting group for this Wednesday to transfer the proposed agreement.

Added to the blockade in Congress of the animal welfare law are the disagreements in the housing law, the citizen security law (known as the

), the

and that of families, in the latter case still pending approval by the Council of Ministers.

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