Animal Welfare in Malta is just a joke. It is just another political exercise where dogs are not truly important. Why?
Dogs there are just allowed a fifteen minute walk a day. This walk is done in the same enclosed place behind the shelter, where volunteers walk the dogs up and down the same enclosed road. No wonder dogs there are stressed with some barely coping in the pen. Other sanctuaries like Association for Abandoned Animals and The Island Sanctuary have enough space which allows their dogs to roam freely throughout the day while their pens are being cleaned.
Dogs at Noah’s Arc and MSPCA can be taken for longer walks outside the premises.
This is not the case for the poor souls at the Animal Welfare Shelter. Lovin Malta had reported back in June that the Ministry’s statement that “The Animal Welfare Directorate has never halted the dog walking activities but has directed volunteers to follow another route whereby an additional exercise area was allocated to the dogs.” In this route, there are no streetlights which makes it impossible for these dogs to have afternoon or evening walks, with more people who work being able to volunteer after work. In these times when it gets dark early, it is impossible.
This, dear readers, is a joke. A fifteen minute walk is a joke, considering they stay enclosed in a pen for the remaining 23hours and 45 minutes. This is emotionally and mentally unhealthy and disturbing for the dogs. Some of them get diarrhea because the shelter life and pen makes them too stressed. Some pens are small with dogs sleeping a few meters away from their poop and pee. Some dog pens face each other, which makes it more stressful for these poor souls.
The Animal Welfare ministry wants to make you believe that a “leash free fenced area where the dogs can be freely exercised adjacent to the existing pens” had also been set up. From what this site hwas witnessed, there is a bathing pool area which is mostly used in good weather. And this ‘leash free fenced area’ is a very small fenced area with soil and grass in which only one dog at a time is allowed. With the current situation where the shelter is overwhelmed with dogs, and having a few volunteers walking the dogs while two employees are cleaning the pens, can somebody tell me what exercise can a dog be given?
It is all a joke, dear readers.
The pens inside the building face each other, with dogs facing each other barking. When they understandably pee and poop throughout the day and night after they were cleaned, the stink is heavy.
Some outdoor pens do not face the sun and are in total darkness. I cannot imagine how the dogs inside them feel.
Sometimes, a volunteer gets to take a dog out on a Saturday or Sunday. But this is the best that these dogs get.
There is only one solution: the animal welfare dog shelter is to be moved elsewhere in a bigger building in a beautifully, remote place, where dog pens do not face each other and where dogs can roam freely outside throughout the day until the workers leave. Exceptions will be done for those few dogs who do not mingle well with other dogs. These can be taken for longer walks outside the premises.
It is a shame that the more I observe the Animal Welfare Ministry, the more I realize that the directorate has a percentage of workers who are not truly animal lovers and that cases of animal abuse are not taken seriously, as is shown in the below report:
What is worse is that in the latest so-called circus Cabinet reshuffle, the same people have been left in charge of this ministry, which should be the one where noble hearts and souls beat for it.