Ademal Lanzarote, the association for the defense and against animal abuse, has urged the Government of the Canary Islands and the Department of Environment of the Cabildo "to cancel the slaughter of guaniles goats in Famara", after citizens denounced on social networks that it is intended to end these animals.
These events were denounced after last Friday the Government of the Canary Islands presented the project for the restoration of habitats in the summits of Famara, in which the Ministry of Defense collaborates and contemplates establishing a garden of native species in the facilities of the Peñas del Chache base. The same, according to Ademal, has a budget of one and a half million euros, from European funds.
In this regard, Ademal proposes to develop "another parallel project where there is a group of experts: shepherds, ranchers, risqueros de salto del palo, ethologists and veterinarians, in order to avoid unnecessary suffering to more than fifty wild or feral animals, who have lived there for more than two hundred years".
The association for the defense and against animal abuse says that it met "as a matter of urgency" this past weekend "with true experts in the field, with extensive experience in the successful relocation of sheep, goats, cattle and even kangaroos in Australia". "They have shown us that through the realization of 'apañadas' they can be reunited, as if it were a flock, all these animals without causing them any damage and in the ethical and responsible way that is presumed to an official body composed of biologists and environmental technicians", he says.
However, he says that "this idea, which is not understood in animal and conservationist forums, was initially rejected by the technicians of the Government of the Canary Islands for considering it useless, costly in time and money". "Although the truth is that they never assessed costs and forecasts or consulted with the goat herders of Lanzarote and there is no serious report from another administration that advises against this initiative," he adds.
According to Ademal, "these same technicians also referred to the fact that in land of equal or similar orography it was impossible to carry out the apaños, which was later denied by the goat herders of a lifetime".
The association points out that among the sources it has consulted are "internationally renowned scientific veterinarians, the humanist from Tenerife Abel Román Hamid, members of the Franz Weber Foundation, the president of the ranchers of Lanzarote, Julio Rodríguez, the goat herder-guide of the cliff Octavio Villalba, who is also an expert in the " salto del pastor" or Canarian jump, a technique that the ancient inhabitants of the islands used to pass through the abrupt terrain of this area and knows its history and life as 3rd generation of these. "All of them, they claim to be able to get these animals out without any danger or risk to anyone and have proposed in the Cabildo to do it for free and in a short space of time", he says.
"With all this field work and research that we have already done by the environmental technicians, will they continue in their thirteen of wanting to continue with the indiscriminate slaughter of wild goats?", asks Ademal, who says that he has asked to be "heard" in the Cabildo and that he will take "the requests of all these real experts to the last instances to stop this nonsense, which directly threatens the fauna and life of the Risco de Famara".
