The environmental organizations SEO/BirdLife, the Association for the Conservation of Canary Biodiversity (ACBC), the Group of Ornithology and Natural History of the Canary Islands (GOHNIC), Abeque and Ecologists in Action Lanzarote (EEA) have denounced the campaign of capture, sterilization and return of cats in the urban center of La Graciosa, which took place between July 25 and 28.
This campaign, promoted by the Animal Welfare Area of the Cabildo of Lanzarote, has had the participation of the City Council of Teguise, Ports of the Canary Islands, the public company of the Government of the Canary Islands GESPLAN, the Official College of Veterinarians of the Canary Islands, the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and several animal protection organizations.
The island of La Graciosa is part of the Chinijo Archipelago Natural Park, the Lanzarote Biosphere Reserve, the Special Area of Conservation (SAC) Chinijo Archipelago, and the Special Protection Area for Birds (SPA) Northern Islets of Lanzarote and Famara, these last two spaces being part of the Natura 2000 Network and, therefore, are protected by European regulations. It is inhabited by 98 species of terrestrial vertebrates included in the Canary Islands Catalog of Protected Species, in the List of Wild Species under Special Protection Regime and in the Birds and Habitats directives of the European Union.
According to data provided by the National Parks Autonomous Agency, at the request of SEO/BirdLife and the Association for the Conservation of Canary Biodiversity (ACBC), between 2020 and 2024 the death by predation caused by cats of, at least, 172 birds has been recorded, including storm petrels, petrels, houbara bustards and Cory's shearwaters, which represents a small part of the predation caused by this introduced feline in La Graciosa. All the species mentioned are included in the aforementioned regulations, being, therefore, protected by Law, including 7/2023 on the Protection of the rights and welfare of animals. This law, in its article 42, indicates that cats that have a negative impact on biodiversity conditions in protected natural spaces and in the Natura 2000 Network spaces or when they constitute a negative impact on protected fauna must be relocated.
In this sense, these organizations recall that this same law indicates in its article 38.2 that the competent Local Administration is the one that has the "ownership of the identified cats" and is, therefore, responsible for the impacts that these produce on the native fauna of La Graciosa.
In the opinion of SEO/BirdLife, the Association for the Conservation of Biodiversity (ACBC), the Group of Ornithology and Natural History of the Canary Islands (GOHNIC), Abeque and Ecologists in Action Lanzarote, the Cabildo of Lanzarote and the City Council of Teguise, with respect to cats with owners, must guarantee that they are identified, sterilized, registered in the City Council, and adequately controlled to prevent their access to the natural environment, without prejudice to the fact that the future Rector Plan for Use and Management must include the prohibition of their possession in La Graciosa.
In relation to the stray and feral cats present on the island, they should promote their capture and transfer to suitable facilities in Lanzarote as the only effective action to avoid urgent damage to wildlife. Stray cats or those living in colonies, despite being fed, prey on native fauna. In addition, these cats can move freely throughout the island, reaching places that harbor important colonies of threatened seabirds, preying on them and compromising their viability or even making them disappear. It is not new, it has happened several times in the past and, therefore, the associations do not understand the management that the Animal Welfare Area of the Cabildo of Lanzarote does in La Graciosa since, far from solving this conservation problem, it aggravates it more time.
Finally, the aforementioned organizations request that the Government of the Canary Islands exercise its powers for the high inspection of powers transferred to the Cabildo of Lanzarote, to avoid actions such as this that threaten the conservation of native fauna, contradicting European, state and regional regulations, and Law 7/2023 on the Protection of the rights and welfare of animals.