The Association for the Defense and against Animal Abuse in Lanzarote (Ademal) has managed to get the Justice to condemn a resident of La Graciosa A.T.B. for animal abuse, as reported in a press release. This is the La Graciosa I case, whose sentence is final after the agreement reached between the parties during the trial.
The court imposes an economic sanction of 1,080 euros, in addition to the prohibition of owning animals or working with them for one year.
The conviction has come via agreement between the parties and represents Ademal's first victory in court and "harbors many hopes in the pending complaints filed that will be resolved in the near future," the association says.
The events date back to October 2020 when, through social networks, Ademal received the first warning about a dozen dogs and other farm animals that remained in deplorable conditions in La Graciosa. "Shortly after, in December, a couple of visitors sent us photographs in which we could see in close-ups the poor conditions: lack of cleanliness, accumulation of garbage and construction materials, pieces of scrapped cars that served as a degenerate habitat for several animals that remained chained to the wall and to cement blocks, many without food or water and in a deplorable state, visibly full of parasites and wounds," says Ademal.
"After numerous and unsuccessful calls and messages to the local mayor of La Graciosa at that time, Alicia Páez," and as a result of the complaints filed with the Teguise City Council and the Nature Protection Service of the Civil Guard (Seprona), it was decided to seize several animals after an ocular inspection due to the danger of keeping them in that state of abandonment and dirt.
The podenca Estrella
The podenca named Estrella was taken to the veterinary clinic Qué perro and the veterinary report was "devastating" and confirmed the worst: muscle atrophy caused by lack of movement when chained for eleven years, almost her entire life, cachexia due to poor nutrition, anemia, flea parasitization, inflammation of breasts and vulva, periodontal disease and grade 2-3 heart murmur.
Estrella was taken in at the home of an Ademal member and had the best care and love she deserved but, unfortunately, she died just two months ago.
Sanction from the Teguise City Council
Ademal Lanzarote recalls that, although the Teguise City Council also sanctioned the convicted person with 400 euros, A. T. B., the municipal punishment was imposed for the lack of hygiene suffered by the animals but not for animal abuse, by omission or negligence, "something that could be verified simply through any veterinary report that was requested at the time." To date, Ademal does not know if any other complaint has been filed through the Animal Welfare area of Teguise.
From Ademal Lanzarote they are pleased with this important step before the Justice, which encourages them to continue their work, arduous and painful, of denouncing animal abuse, "understanding many times that they do not always have to see the faces with the typical manual abuser but that, in most cases that we denounce, it is the same ignorance, education or the so-called tradition, acquired through the years and learned from parents and grandparents." The association adds that, in many cases, "they are not even aware that they are mistreating animals. They simply repeat behaviors acquired within the family, without understanding as abuse the fact of having a dog chained for life and fed with stale bread and water."
Ademal has achieved a victory in the courts but in the association they are aware that there is much work to be done and much to "educate", especially in the rural areas of Lanzarote. The association publicly thanks the work of its lawyer, Emilio Cabrera, "for his faithful company in this fight in favor of animals".