The State Federation of Veterinary Trade Unions (Fesvet) shares with the General Directorate of Animal Rights the need and opportunity to establish a national regulatory framework aimed at the responsible keeping and coexistence of animals, civility for their defense and conservation, fight against abandonment and abuse, promote adoption , its training and information on animal protection and the need to identify and promote animal protection, considers, however, that all these are part of the Veterinary Public Health and must therefore be integrated, like the General Directorate itself, into the Ministry of Health..
From this point of view, and in the phase that citizens, organizations and associations have established to contribute their opinions on issues related to the Draft Law on Animal Welfare, they addressed the Second Vice-President. , Ministry of Social Rights and Agenda 2030, to send you following the contributions that we reproduce in full below.
“In order to improve the elaboration of the Draft Law on Animal Welfare, from FESVET, we send you the following considerations:
BACKGROUND
THE FIRST
The protection and welfare of animals is a substantial part of public health, in particular veterinary public health. (Art. 8.2 of Law 14/86, of April 25, General Health), as these aspects are directly related to the elevation “Among the risks to humans due to animal life and its diseases”.
SECOND
This is so indisputable and extensively demonstrated by the literature on this topic over several decades, because of the lack of adequate care (both maintenance and prophylaxis and medical treatments), lack of well-being or ill-treatment and irresponsible possession directly affect the occurrence or increase of public health risks. All those aspects that negatively affect the welfare of animals directly or indirectly increase the risk to public health and fall fully within the competence of veterinarians (art. 6.2.d. Law 44/2003, of 21 November, Regulation of health professions), both public administrations, as well as private practice in all its branches.
The physical, physiological, health and psychological poorness of domestic animals, both companion and production animals, directly affects the emergence and increase of the incidence of all types of environmental health risks arising from the coexistence of animals and humans.
Animals subjected to poor psychological or physiological conditions suffer from chronic or acute stress processes that reduce their defenses and cause them to develop truly dangerous or serious latent diseases.S which, to a large extent, may directly affect the health of the population or may indirectly contaminate the environment and may affect the health of humans or other wild or domestic species. Further, many of these animals, especially exotic ones, are asymptomatic carriers of pathogens to humans and other species., which are released into the environment by faeces, urine or other secretions and which increase their presence in the environment when these animals are subjected to inappropriate or direct abuse. These risk situations for public health are amplified in an extraordinary way when, together with these situations of mental stress or physical abuse, there is irresponsible possession and management without paying attention, for example, to the appropriate medical prophylaxis measures for each type of animal or when pathological processes that are not adequately treated by the veterinarian develop directly.
Only veterinarians in the field of health, through training and skills, can adequately specify the physical and psychological health of domestic animals., as well as the assessment of how this condition may affect the maintenance of the health of its owner, of the family group in which he lives or of the health of the general population; that is, public health in general.
THIRD
This main issue, according to which the protection of animals is a nuclear part of prevention and protection in public health, is seen at European level in the organization of the competences of the European Commission., as animal welfare control has so far been and continues to be, under the protection and control of the European Union Commissioner for Health.
FOURTH
It seems logical to think, therefore, that this draft law on animal welfare should be published by the Ministry of Health. and not from the Ministry of Social Rights and the 2030 Agenda, as it also seems logical to think that the Directorate-General for Animal Welfare should also be included organically in the Ministry of Health. Animal welfare must be a major issue for public health organizations, with very important but secondary implications of social perception and sensitivity and which must be subject to the main issue or nuclear health and not the other way around.
Therefore, from the STATE FEDERATION OF VETERINARY UNIONS -FESVET- WE REQUEST,
THE FIRST
That secondment of the Directorate-General for Animal Welfare so that it is organically dependent on the Ministry of Health, in parallel and in connection with its dependence on the Commissioner for Health and its nuclear importance in public health.
SECOND
That, in accordance with the first subparagraph, the project is published and then the final law, from the Ministry of Health and not from the Social Rights Agenda and 2030.
THIRD
The main role of veterinary public health is recognized (Art. 8.2 of Law 14/86, of April 25, General Health), both in the public and in the private sphere, in the supervision and control of aspects related to animal welfare ”.