SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, 17 Feb. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Cabildo de Tenerife will allocate 1,234,190 euros this year to different actions related to animal welfare, which is 15 percent more than in 2022, as reported by the Island Corporation on Friday.
A large part of the budget will go to the animal shelters of Tierra Blanca (Fasnia) and Ravelo (El Sauzal), dependent on the Island Corporation, where new adaptation and improvement actions will continue to be implemented.
The insular president, Pedro Martín, who visited the facilities of the Tierra Blanca Animal Protection Center together with the head of Animal Welfare, Javier Parrilla, highlighted “the total overturn that we have given to animal protection and care policies in these four years of mandate”.
In this sense, he assured that they were clear that animal care “was one of the pending issues of the Cabildo, that is why the investments have been continuous, with economic items and actions that had never been put on the table before.”
Pedro Martín advanced that within two months the works will have been completed to replace the roof of ship 1 of the hostel, in which asbestos was detected, as well as the three exercise and promenade patios (about 298 square meters each). ), so that dogs can exercise and socialize, fundamental issues to improve their health.
This year, in addition, the project for the construction of a wastewater treatment plant and a veterinary clinic in the Ravelo refuge will be launched. In the same way, the construction of a path and the adequacy of the kennels and the entrance are contemplated.
The insular president stressed that the objective is that the shelters dependent on the insular Corporation are animal welfare spaces and not storage places. “Since the beginning of the mandate we have been working to dignify the lives of refugee animals. We want dogs to be able to play, interact and exercise, but also that they receive the care and health care they need while waiting for them to be accepted for adoption. “, he added.
In the case of Tierra Blanca, Javier Parrilla recalled that the Cabildo completed the construction of a new warehouse in 2021, worth almost 450,000 euros. Added to this is the conditioning of the garden areas of the hostel, the creation of walking and exercise areas, the start-up of new veterinary units and facilities for farm staff, volunteers and visitors, or the carrying out of training and awareness raising with school groups.
The island councilor also added that this government team established the Island Council for Animal Protection and Welfare in 2020, a consultative and advisory body in which the municipalities participate through the Fecam, the Government of the Canary Islands, collectives and associations.
“We have responded to problems that had not been addressed since 2013, and we will continue working to solve all the deficiencies and shortcomings that we found when we arrived. In the shelters, the work and investments have been continuous and have allowed us to improve care, the comfort and care of refugee animals, but there is still a lot of room for improvement,” he concluded.
