GAF
Fines apply to violators of the Decree Law of Animal Welfare in Artemisa
The feline's aggressors, in addition to the physical damage they caused it, verbally manifested themselves using phrases of extreme violence and filmed this extremely cruel act.
In the afternoon of Monday, September 6, a complaint was received from an animal protector, established by telephone to the Information and Epidemiological Surveillance System (SIVE) of the Provincial Animal Health Directorate, reporting an act of animal abuse carried out by three citizens residing in the municipality of Alquízar, in the province of Artemisa. One of the citizens, before the bite that a cat caused him in one of his hands, together with two other individuals who accompanied him, caused severe injuries that led to the death of the animal, using extremely brutal and violent ways against the animal. The aggressors of the feline, in addition to the physical damage they caused, verbally manifested themselves using phrases of extreme violence and filmed this extremely cruel act and as if that were not enough, they uploaded it to social networks, which shows the ferocity and terrible performance of those people. This fact, being known by users of social networks, caused great outrage in the animal protection community and the population in general. The national and provincial authorities of Animal Health and the National Revolutionary Police in the territory of Artemisa appeared at the scene of the events in a coordinated action and in compliance with the second Final Provision of Decree 38/2021 Regulation of Decree Law No. 31 of Animal Welfare, put into effect on July 10, 2021, led offenders to clarify the facts and take the corresponding measures. The measures applied to each of the offenders in this case were the application of a fine with an amount of $ 1,500.00 pesos in national currency, doubled to $ 3,000.00, due to the aggravating circumstance of the case, as provided in Chapter XI, article 59, subsection a) and warning report. These acts of unjustified mistreatment of animals are rejected by the veterinary community, animal protectors and by the population, therefore, in the face of knowledge of any damage to animal health and welfare caused by irresponsible and abusive people, who also disregard the legal norms recently put into effect, it is necessary to act swiftly, denounce and encourage the application of the corresponding measures. By virtue of compliance with current legislation, conduct of this nature that violates animal welfare will not be tolerated. This unfortunate situation confirms that there are citizens in the country who do not respect the rights to life, health and well-being of animals and show total disregard for legal norms. For this reason, it is necessary to continue developing educational actions aimed at the population, to achieve the necessary training in animal protection and welfare. Education in this field, with the interest of promoting respect for animals, must begin from the early ages of life, within the family, be promoted in schools as part of the general education of children, adolescents and young people. and be strengthened through information and mass communication to the population, from specialized institutions and others related to animals, all with the interest of preventing and avoiding that unfortunate events such as the one that occurred, are not repeated and are eliminated from our society. Telephones and emails to notify complaints and reports that violate animal welfare Given the complex epidemiological situation that Cuba is experiencing, associated with the presence of covid-19 and the measures of social isolation that have necessarily been adopted to prevent the spread of the disease, the Ministry of Agriculture informs the population about new ways to through which citizens can contact to report complaints, reports and proposals in the event of acts that threaten animal welfare. With this measure, new communication channels are offered that favor contact channels to inform and effectively process the approaches related to animal welfare, which will promote better management for the solution and timely response to any event. On July 10, 2021, Decree Law No. 31/2021 and Decree No. 38/2021 came into force, legal regulations that implement the Animal Welfare Policy in Cuba.
