While the European Parliament voted the controversial directive 86/609 on animal experimentation, Save the Dogs and other associations belonging to PETS IN EUROPE were looking to obtain the greatest possible number of signatures in favour of Declaration 26 on the welfare of pets. Given the confusion caused in the past few days between the two initiatives: we feel the need to clarify: the vote on the directive on experimentation represented an end to the legislature lasting two years. The written declaration, was instead a first step for the pets to be inserted in the competence of Parliament, to curb the phenomena of puppy smuggling from the East and to develop at the European level issues like the identification and the birth control of animals in ownership, today controlled by national laws.

To deepen the directive on experimentation we direct our supporters to the LAV website because Save the Dogs, although opposing vivisections and hoping one day that they are replaced in its entirety by alternative methods, has as a major role the fight against straying in Romania. Our website, is therefore, not a place to confront the complex issues of the Directive 86/609, and it seems more appropriate that it is an association antivivisectionist in providing all the information of the case.

Unfortunately, Declaration 26, for which Save the Dogs and its partners worked so much for, did not pass. 226 signatures were collected out of a total of 736 parliamentary: less than a third and therefore too little even to ask for a prorogation. Out of the Italians, 24 parliamentarians signed out of 72. Much less than those that signed the Declaration on the transport of horses. A failure that Save the Dogs cannot explain, even so because diverse MEP showed a certain interest for the document- Balzani (PD), Albertini (PDL), Sassoli (PD), Costa (PD) – but that did not make them sign it. At the general level, rather, a great number of responses from the Scandinavian countries but not many from the East and the South of Europe. The list of all the signatories is available here.

Despite this, there is good news: at the end of the year a four-year plan of action from the European Commission on the welfare of animals will be presented, which for the first time will include a section dedicated to Pet animals. The declaration has surely accelerated a legislative process, without which, in our opinion, effective Europeans polices in the fight against stray animals and the smuggling of animals would never come into effect. But the signs we have suggest a growing interest from institutions on these issues. Save The Dogs continues to put the pressure on, for the well-being of the dogs and the cats from Romania and throughout Europe.