Spaying and Neutering Programs Spain

Spain is the number one vacation destination for many people, with sun, beaches and the Ballermann inviting you to spend the best days of the year in the land of Flamenco and Sangria.

Unfortunately, Spain is all too often hell on earth for animals. Whether bullfighting, factory farming, hunting dogs or street animals: the Spanish are anything but squeamish in their treatment of animals. Hundreds of thousands of dogs and cats are disposed of by Spaniards every year. Sometimes on the street, sometimes in killing centres (perreras municipales), sometimes they are killed outright. Unfortunately, mistreatment is not uncommon.

The municipal detention centers are subsidized, being a lucrative business for corrupt individuals. Animals are regularly killed in the shelters and the law sets different waiting time periods depending on the region. Many shelters euthanize animals that have no chance of being rehomed, but others have extremely brutal disposal options. There are so many animals that they can never all be rehomed. In addition, numerous pet stores sell puppies from the East for little money, those that are not sold end up being killed and the ones that are sold might end up there as well.

In Spain, each autonomous republic has its own animal protection law. Attempts to standardize this have so far failed. As everywhere else, there is a particularly severe lack of enforcement in Spain.

The transfer of dogs and cats from Spain to Western Europe does nothing to change the situation on the ground, even if it is a lottery ticket for the individual animal. The problem must be tackled at its roots: neutering, education and help for animal shelters are activities that will bring about a lasting improvement in the animals’ living conditions. To this end, NetAP works with numerous local animal welfare organisations on the Balearic Islands and in southern Spain and carries out neutering programmes as well as spay and neuter operations.

A new animal welfare law has been in force in Spain since the 29th of September 2023. Among other things, this law sets out obligations and prohibitions in relation to pets (such as dogs and cats) and wild animals in captivity. The aim of this law is actually to create a basic legal regulation for the protection, guarantee of rights and welfare of pets and wild animals in captivity throughout Spain. Inexplicably, fighting animals, farm animals, specially bred animals, wild animals and animals used for specific activities (such as shepherd dogs, rescue dogs, police dogs and hunting dogs) have been excluded from the scope of the Animal Welfare Act. It remains to be seen whether the law will bring an improvement in the area of stray animals. It includes a chip and castration requirement for cats before the age of six months (except for registered breeding animals). Unfortunately, however, this is currently leading to an increase in the abandonment of cats. It remains to be seen whether the situation will improve in the long term.

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