The parties with parliamentary seats agreed on Wednesday on the need to improve animal protection, but everyone, with the exception of the PAN, disagreed with the deterioration of criminal frameworks for crimes against pets.
Debate in the plenary session of the Assembly of the Republic was a petition by Daniela Avdija and others requesting that the criminal frameworks for crimes against pets be strengthened, motivated by the case of the Bull Terrier, dubbed “Smoky”, which was released on February 2. , he was tied to the collar with two rocks and thrown into the Arade River in Lagoa, Algarve, causing horror and social consternation at the beatings inflicted.
The 27,306 signatories of the petition they demanded that the laws be reviewed and amended, with heavier penalties, for those who commit these crimes, even without prior registration, with effective prison terms.
Two PAN bills were also discussed in parliament – one that extends criminal law protection for animals, passing the 56th amendment to the Criminal Code, and another that regulates and provides for the confinement and housing of pets on balconies and similar spaces. in the implementation of a National Unchaining Plan and an Enough Bill aimed at increasing the protection of companion animals.
Delegate Inês Sousa Real (PAN) welcomed the petitioners and called on parliament to make the proposed measures viable to “densify” and guarantee legislation criminalizing animal cruelty, and took the opportunity to criticize to express the “short-sightedness” of the Constitutional Court, which concluded that there was no constitutional basis for criminalizing mistreatment of companion animals.
Deputy Rita Matias took the floor to present the Chega law to improve the protection of companion animals, and her intervention was highly critical in relation to the PAN, to whom accused of being “a moralistic party, but without morals”, which cares more about animals than the elderly and the plight of ant-infested nursing homes.
Rita Matias also criticized the idea of banning companion animals from being left home alone for more than 12 hours, warned of the gap with Portuguese people’s social and work realities, and warned that a solution to the discussed problem would require a constitutional rethink.
Chega’s deputy’s intervention prompted a “defense of honor request” by Inês Sousa Real to remind Chega’s deputy that the PAN had introduced bills aimed at criminalizing abandonment of the elderly. states, emphasizing that the PAN exists for both humans and animals.
Patrícia Gil Vaz (Liberal Initiative), Paulo Araújo Correia (PS), Emília Cerqueira (PSD), Bruno Dias (PCP), Joana Mortágua (Chega) and Rui Tavares (Livre) intervened to clear the concerns of the respective banks to reiterate and the need to protect animals, but refute that the way forward is the deterioration of criminal justice frameworks.
In essence, these last MEPs warned that the problem cannot be solved by mere criminalization of acts and by increasing criminal penalties, but rather by preventive, educational and pedagogical measures, as well as the creation of administrative, sanitary and veterinary instruments that welfare and protection of all animals, both companion animals and others.
For example, they believed that the deterioration of criminal justice frameworks does not solve the problem, with Rui Tavares (Livre) reiterating that he is against any form of “criminal populism” because it does not lead to a decrease in crime.
Source: DN
