The Department of Animal Welfare, in collaboration with the veterinary clinics of the municipality, initiate a citizen awareness campaign that promotes vaccination and identification of animals company, as well as responsibly walking pets. This initiative, motivated by the high number of unidentified specimens, will run from September to December and was presented yesterday by the mayor, Francisco Linares; the mayor of the area, Yayi García, and Sandra Jiménez García representing the veterinarians.
Councilor Yayi García emphasizes the need to raise awareness among the population that has pets “both of the importance of identifying the animal with a chip, census and vaccinating it, as well as the care and civic gestures of coexistence with the removal of excrement from the road public ”. The objective is “responsible ownership, the identification of animals and avoid abandonment,” he stressed.
The intention is that residents of Orotava with pets that have not been registered or identified, should go to the municipality’s clinics in these months. In addition to benefiting from the offers, they will receive a direct gift for each pet, which consists of a backpack with a cleaning kit for the walk, as well as a ticket for the raffle of a gift per clinic and a “great final gift”. The Department of Animal Welfare publishes a promotional video, a brochure and informative posters.
The mayor, Francisco Linares, maintains that “It is a matter of collaboration, education and responsibility on the part of all”. Likewise, he values ”the love and gratification” that a pet brings at home, “and our duty is to take care of them and treat them as one more member of the family.” The involvement of the Consistory is reflected in the creation of the Department of Animal Welfare, the municipal ordinance and the support of the Local Police to monitor compliance. The councilor expects responsibility, civility and respect for animals and asks for the involvement of neighbors to fight and end animal abuse.
La Orotava has a protocol for collecting abandoned animals on public roads 24 hours a day, managed through the Local Police; an agreement with Refugio Internacional; another in collaboration with the Fundación Neotrópico, for the collection of exotic fauna; chip readers, muzzles of different sizes and capture cages. The local government announces more controls on public roads and parks to remind the population of the obligation to comply with the municipal ordinance and avoid possible sanctions.
The Department has also contributed to the adoption of abandoned dogs and cats.
