Chilean Municipalities Need Serious Policies for Pet Welfare
By Andres Kogan Valderrama
HAVANA TIMES – According to a joint study realized by the Universidad del Alba in Santiago, Chile, and the Association of Chilean Municipalities, 66.3% of Chile’s municipalities have a structure set up for applying the “Ley Cholito,” or Law for Responsible Pet Ownership; 79.9% already have related town ordinances in place. However, 34% of the townships do not have a department dedicated to the supervision of responsible pet ownership.
The realities in the municipalities are troubling to those of us to who consider the care of dogs and cats fundamental, especially those of us who are rescuers and who daily see mistreated and abandoned dogs and cats in the streets, or those who’ve been run over. These realities are the consequence of people who still don’t empathize with these animals’ suffering, combined with an institutional structure that is still very weak and not up to dealing with the circumstances.
It’s true that many cities have progressed in their veterinary services, especially vaccination and sterilization, and also in the implanting of microchips and the National Pet Registry, as well as in kennels, adoption agencies. However, those advances haven’t been accompanied by a system to really assure responsible pet ownership, where everyone has the obligation of caring for the dogs and cats, and it isn’t left merely up to each person’s individual will.
Due to that lack, there are many organizations dedicated to rescuing as many as possible of the innumerable lost dogs and cats, sometimes in the worst condition, or dead, due to the irresponsibility and indifference of people who see pets as simple objects and adornments, instead of feeling beings that deserve to have certain legal rights and be considered subjects of public policy.
It’s true, the municipalities can say they have limited resources, and that their priorities are infrastructure, health, education, and safety, for example. But let’s look at what happens in local governments where there are high revenues, and see if there are large differences between these prosperous towns and communities that must live from the funds offered by the Common Municipal Fund.
Las Condes is a municipality that has a huge budget yet is in urgent need of progress in this area. In her last public address, the mayor, Daniela Peñaloza, proudly named successes like having the country’s first municipal crematorium, raising the bars on some kennels, and having extra income coming in, as well as offering discounts for medications and having held the first dog race of any township.
As a neighbor of Las Condes, it seems to me a mockery to speak of a dog race, yet not utter a single word about the drama of the stray cats and dogs, especially in the winter, since the municipality doesn’t have any policies with respect to this. It’s not enough to sterilize and insert microchips in some dogs and cats when families bring them in for that purpose, (families that, of course, are usually responsible owners,) if we don’t also worry about those that are suffering abandonment and mistreatment, exposed to diseases, injuries and even death.
Anyone who has rescued a lost dog or cat in the streets of Las Condes knows that the municipality doesn’t collaborate. The rescuers only recourse is to post it on Sosafe and stake our hopes on our personal social networks; or to seek help from other organizations; or to find an individual microchip reader or ask a veterinary clinic to read the chip; at the same time, searching on one’s own for a temporary home.
The municipality of Las Condes doesn’t have many microchip readers, and the only ones that exist are in the hands of a few functionaries from the Department of Zoonosis and Environmental Sanitation, who can read them only during office hours. With luck, these functionaries can post the information on their site, but they won’t move a finger when asked for help in an emergency to retain, move or shelter an animal, since they don’t have the facilities or programs to do so.
A separate issue that merits attention is help managing the colonies of feral cats. Here, Las Condes does stand out, thanks to a program where trained personnel facilitate the capture of these animals, and then sterilize them, later returning the cats to the places where they were found.
I don’t want to imply that what Mayor Peñaloza had to say about the public accounts wasn’t relevant, but with the resources they have, Las Condes should be a model for all Chile. At the very least, they should have a shelter for abandoned and/or lost cats and dogs, and an area dedicated exclusively to rescuing domestic animals. This would allow them to develop a network of temporary and definitive homes, all duly supervised by the town authorities.
That’s not asking so much of them. In fact, Joaquin Lavin himself when he was mayor of Las Condes, inaugurated a temporary shelter for lost pets in the winter. During his term in office, the safety inspectors had microchip readers. But even that small gesture wasn’t continued, which demonstrates the backsliding in this central aspect of caring for pets. They’ve been left completely unprotected from the dangers on the streets, and the dangers of irresponsible homes or abusers.
Clearly, we need to have policies for really caring for pets at a municipal level and stop trivializing the topic as something that is cute or sweet. Or transforming the issue into a media show, as happens in the municipality of Las Condes, when they organize dog races but don’t say anything about the abandoned dogs and cats.