Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1499169
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 14 MAY 2023 8 INTERVIEW Raphael Vassallo rvassallo@mediatoday.com.mt Humans are 'dangerous animals', For some time now, there have been reports suggesting that Malta's animal welfare situa- tion has deteriorated alarm- ingly, in recent years. We hear of shelters being overcrowd- ed; more animals being aban- doned; less enforcement of an- imal welfare regulations; and so on and so forth. From the perspective of someone who manages an animal shelter, however: how much truth is there to that perception? From our own experience at MSPCA – where, like all other shelters, we deal with the con- sequences of this issue on a daily basis – I can confirm that there has been a huge increase in animal abandonment, over the last couple of years. Not just here in Malta, but also in- ternationally. And there are a lot of fac- tors to account for this. Para- doxically, one of them is that 'public interest in animals' has also grown a lot, in recent years. There is a quite lot of evidence that animal welfare is increasingly becoming more of a 'priority', to people in gen- eral. We see this in advertising and marketing campaigns, for instance; and especially, on so- cial media platforms. This is, of course, a positive thing: because with so many people taking an active inter- est in animal welfare, we can now start asking questions – important questions – about how the situation can be im- proved; and how animals can become a part of our society, in a way that benefits both them, and people... Unfortunately, however, there is a negative side to it, too. To give you an exam- ple: towards the beginning of the pandemic, there was a noticeable increase (here, as elsewhere) in the number of people interested in adopting a dog or a cat. It was, in fact, the first thing many people went for. Faced with the pros- pect of having to isolate them- selves for so long, people felt the need for companionship; and animals were 'the next best thing' after humans, so to speak. But now that the crisis is over, and people are going back to work... many of them are now looking for 'solutions', to their newfound 'problem'. So just as we saw an increase in adoption, two years ago; we are now seeing a lot of those animals being abandoned... What about inflation? I assume that the price of pet food (and veterinary services, etc.) has also increased, in step with everything else. Could it simply be that people are now finding it too expensive to keep those pets? There is that, too. Expens- es are certainly a major con- sideration, when it comes to taking the decision to adopt a dog or a cat. That is we try to make our rehoming process as thorough, and fool-proof, as possible. It's not just a ques- tion of 'coming to the shelter, and choosing a dog'. There is a long process involved: which will include a couple of visits [to the prospective home]; as well as a detailed application form, to ensure that the appli- cant would be ready to make that sort of commitment. To come back to your original question, though – which was about how 'true' the percep- tion is – I have to add that the situation is not all necessarily doom and gloom. Definitely, there is still a lot of work to do; and a lot that needs to be im- proved... But we have also seen sig- nificant improvements, in the last couple of years. Bear in mind that NGOs such as AAA, MSPCA & Island Sanctuary have been around, since long before the foundation of [The Animal Welfare Directorate]... If I'm not mistaken, the MSP- CA – which I myself remember as the 'RSPCA' – was actually founded by the British, all the way back in 1900.... Precisely. So, shelters have been around for a very long time; they have seen a lot; they have been through a lot... and this enables them to take a step back, and look at the de- velopment of animal welfare in Malta, since it all first started. And from that perspective, we can safely say that – over the last two years, in particu- lar – there have been vast im- provements, in the field of an- imal welfare. I do feel that we also need to look at the posi- tive side, of where we are go- ing. Because we ARE moving forward, at the end of the day... At the same time, however: that's not the impression you get from reading certain news reports, right now. So first of all: can you give us a few prac- tical examples of these im- provements? And secondly – given that so much criticism is currently being levelled at the AWD – how much of this pro- gress would you say is directly attributable to that particular institution? Has it 'helped', or 'hindered', the advancement of animal welfare in Malta? Well, one of the issues we face today, is that there is a lot of... 'noise interference', at the moment. A lot of 'nega- tive publicity', which – as I was saying earlier – is also partly down to the fact that there is so much more public interest in animal welfare, today, than ever before. So in a sense, you could al- most say it's a good thing: because it means that more people care about animals, in general. But on another level, it's also a 'hindrance', at the end of the day. Because ulti- mately, it serves to distract us from a lot of the good work that is actually being done, on a day-to-day basis, between the shelters, and Animal Wel- fare... One of the most important changes we have witnessed, for example, was a movement away from what we used to call the 'Survival of the Fittest' ap- proach. Up until only quite re- cently, it was standard practice to simply 'throw animals into The Animal Welfare Department has come in for some harsh public criticism, of late. But MARY CASSAR TORREGGIANI – fund-raising/ operations manager for MSPCA – argues that this sort of 'noise interference' only gets in the way of what matters most: the welfare of animals