Simon Hunter
SPAIN’S animal rights political party Pacma has denounced an ‘illegal breeder’ in Benalmadena, on the Costa del Sol, where dozens of animals were being kept in appalling conditions.
Volunteers from the organisation paid several visits in July and August to an area known as Villa Moscas, where they discovered a clowder of Egyptian cats that had apparently been bred illegally, along with dogs, hens, horses, pigeons and pigs.
The animals were being kept in rusty cages that were piled on top of one another.
Subsequent visits a month later revealed more animals locked in cages with no natural light or ventilation, and in some cases with visible open wounds and sores.
Pacma filed a complaint with the local council, given that the discoveries were made on municipal property, calling for any animal care licences to be suspended for those responsible as well as the animals themselves to be taken to protection centres.
The mayor of Benalmadena, Juan Antonio Lara, took action this week in response by convening a meeting to analyse the situation.
Lara also sent local police and municipal employees to the site to investigate whether there was evidence of animal abuse and to transfer the animals to protection centres if necessary, radio network Cadena Ser reported.
Earlier this year a new set of animal protection laws came into force into Spain, including fines of up to €200,000 for the most serious offences.
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