Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1321294
9 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 20 DECEMBER 2020 INTERVIEW exploitation of animals for hu- man enjoyment. Owners of ille- gal unlicensed zoos have seen their commercial enterprises retroactively sanctioned; and just last month, a public con- sultation document about zoos was amended, to remove a pro- posed ban on animal petting. How much thought is actually being given to animal welfare by the authorities today? I think we still have a long way to go: because the way the regu- lations have been drawn up has given a lot of importance to the pleasure that these animals give to humans… at the cost of the an- imals' suffering. One of the benefits of being Animal Welfare Commissioner is that, in this role, I don't have to be impartial. My job is, in fact, to 'take the side of the animals'. And that is what I fully intend to do. But I can also understand how a policy-maker, or a legislator, would try to balance the human side along with the animal side. So I won't deny that it's a hard road ahead; but we have to take baby-steps. And besides: we have scored a few successes over the years. The banning of circuses, for instance, was one of them. And let's not forget that there was a lot of opposition, at the time: because the people who were bringing cir- cuses to Malta were making a lot of money out of it; and they also had the public's support. But we managed, all the same. Despite the lobbying, despite all the problems you mentioned – the political clout enjoyed by the people involved, etc. – we still managed to get circuses banned. So I think that, at the end of the day, persistence gets you some- where… Fair enough, but the pressure remains. The first thing you said, upon your appointment, was that you disagree with keeping animals in cages. As a result, you were threatened by a zoo-keeper who – in a nut- shell - said he would use his clout to get you removed from your position. Regardless of the threat itself – which was, in any case, retracted - isn't it true that people like Anton Rea Cutajar – and also Charles Poli- dano, owner of another public menagerie – still get to keep their caged animals, and ex- ploit them for profit, in spite of everything? Let me put it this way: yes, I am opposed to keeping animals in cages, on principle… and I stand by that. But in practice, the real- ity is that those animals are here; they're in cages; and realistically speaking, the most we can do right now is try our best to improve the quality of those animals' lives. My aim, right now, is to push for leg- islation that will gradually slow down the breeding of animals in captivity - so that, ultimately, we will have fewer captive animals in future… But quite frankly, the closing of all zoos in Malta is something that won't happen in my lifetime. And I don't want it to happen in my lifetime, either: because right now, we simply don't have any space or resources to care for those animals. The priority, then, is to make sure the conditions they are being kept in improves as much as possible…but for the longer term, we need to stop the continued im- portation, unregulated breeding and trading that perpetuates the whole cycle. Isn't that also part of the black- mailing power these people have over legislators and poli- cy-makers, though? That their business cannot be regulat- ed, because government itself doesn't have the resources to take care of the animals in question? Yes, absolutely. And it's not just with zoos, either. The karrozzini [horse-drawn cabbie] issue is very similar. If we had to limit karozz- ini so much, that there would no longer be any use for the hors- es… what's going to happen to the horses? So yes: it is emotion- al blackmail; but unfortunately, that's also the way it is. In the case of zoos in particular, the blackmail isn't even limited just to the caged animals them- selves. They're also using children with disabilities; arguing that 'pet- ting a tiger-cub' has therapeutic benefits, and so on. But even petting a dog has the same benefits. It doesn't have to be a wild animal... Another thing Cutajar criticised you for is that - in his own view, anyway – you 'don't have any real credentials for the job'… He's wrong about that, by the way. Even before being an activ- ist in general, I spent three and a half years running a blog that was dedicated only, and exclusively, to animal-related stories. This involved investigating, in consid- erable detail, every animal-relat- ed story that came my way. So I spent three and a half years in deep, deep study about the animal welfare situation in Malta. If that doesn't give the knowledge and experience that is required for the job… I don't know what would. In addition, one of the main roles of the Commission is to raise awareness, and to create social and media dialogue. My background in communications, I would think, comes in very handy in this regard. So… I think he's quite simply mistaken, to say that I don't have any real qualifications for the job… … the question I was coming to, however, is that neither Cuta- jar himself, nor any other local zoo-owner that I know of, has any real qualifications to keep animals in captivity, either. Un- til recently, there were no reg- ulations governing this sector at all. And yet, in another coun- tries, zoos are tightly regulated; and – rightly or wrongly – they also claim to play a role in wild- life conservation. Shouldn't that also be the case here? There isn't that dimension in Malta, no. The animals kept in our zoos would never survive a day in the wild. They certainly cannot be re-released. And the animals that are bred locally, are either bred to keep the local zoo population healthy… or to be exported to pri- vate collectors abroad. But again: the reality is that – historically, and across the board – humans have always taken pri- ority over animals. Not just in Malta, but everywhere. At the same time, however, we are seeing a slow, gradual movement in the right direction. Animal welfare is slowly climbing up the ladder: from the lowest pit of govern- ments' and policy-makers' agen- da, to higher levels. So to return to your original question: I think that choosing me, for this role, is just another proof that animal welfare is, in fact, being taken more seri- ously than ever before. But… we still have a long way to go. welfare more seriously