The Argana Viva association has lashed out at the Animal Welfare area of the Arrecife City Council, considering that the rules for the operation of volunteering at the Animal Protection Center, “are discriminatory and intend to veto volunteers.”
“They require us to have a medical certificate, which we have to pay for out of our own pockets, stating that we do not have any physical, psychological, or sensory disabilities,” says the spokesperson for the Animal Law commission, Lucía Ballesteros.
In her opinion, "this is a serious mistake, since it has been shown that dealing with animals can become a therapy for this group of people." In addition, she considers it "a violation of their right to social integration." “We understand that a series of guarantees must be met, but this goes beyond the minimum,” she points out.
Likewise, they point out that, while they put "so many obstacles" for volunteers, for adoptions "they do not require any type of insurance, which is contradictory." “In no other center do they have such imposing ways of proceeding,” they add.
Finally, they demand solutions to these demands from the volunteers from Saro González, councilor of the area. “We cannot continue with these arbitrary forms that make our altruistic work difficult,” they state in their statement.