Watch: Malta To Start Neutering Stray Cats This Year And Animal Ambulance Customer Care Staff To Rise From Two To Six
Malta’s first-ever government-funded cat neutering campaign will commence later this year to control the number of stray cats on the streets.
“We need to ensure that we control the population of stray cats to reduce problems related to emergencies of the same species,” Animal Rights Parliamentary Secretary Alicia Bugeja Said told Lovin Malta.
“The Animal Welfare Directorate has already started this process and it will be done this year.”
Animal activists have long been calling for a national cat neutering campaign and PN MP Rebekah Cilia has gone as far as to say there shouldn’t be a single stray cat in the country.
A tender for such a campaign was approved in the 2021 Budget but has yet to be published, although the PL included it in its election manifesto.
Bugeja Said also pledged to set up an animal ambulance customer care office, complete with four employees, to deal with calls on sick and injured stays.
As it stands, only two government officials are involved in customer care, with people often made to spend hours on the line to get through.
“We will have human resources specifically for the ambulance and customer care, which will work separately but in synergy with each other, so they can be more proactive and responsive when needed.”
Bugeja Said today launched a four-week public consultation process ahead of the drafting of a national animal welfare strategy, which is set to address everything from domestic animals and strays to farm animals. More details can be found here.
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