The Santa Cruz de Tenerife City Council is going to proceed with the sterilization of feral cats (feral) that live in the surroundings of the Anaga Rural Park due to the impossibility of generating colonies.
This was announced by the Councilor for Animal Welfare, Carlos Tarife, who explained that the park's regulations prevent the creation of colonies of these animals within a distance of less than 500 meters from its limits , "which in practice leaves out of this possibility to towns and neighborhoods of the municipality, from San Andrés to the La Alegría neighborhood, all those that are at that distance from the area protected by the figure of the Biosphere Reserve. "
Carlos Tarife has explained in a note that the CES system (Capture, Sterilization and Release) will be applied while waiting for the approval of the new Animal Welfare Law, by the Government of the Canary Islands, which, as explained to different political groups in Parliament, "should include specific regulations on how to act in these protected areas and their surroundings."
The objective of this measure to be initially adopted by the City Council, the councilor continued, "is to prevent the population of these cats from continuing to grow uncontrollably , so that they will be captured and sterilized, before being returned to their environment."
"Obviously we cannot carry out this control in the park, which is governed by regulations of the Cabildo de Tenerife, but we can act in its environment and, in the future, try to ensure that the regional regulations allow all those volunteers who they are willing to take responsibility for a colony of cats in these neighborhoods they can do it, something that the current regulations prevent them, "he explains.
Tarife understands that it is "important" that this initiative of many volunteers has legal support in the future Animal Welfare Law, and this has been spoken both with animal protection associations and with political parties with representation in Parliament.