A combination of resignations, sickness, vacation leave and restrictions on overtime to cover the lost manpower among officers means that there are practically no Animal Welfare officers working to handle inspections.

“Animal Welfare is way behind on inspections as we not only have officers on leave and sick, but a number of shifts like ours have less people than what is actually minimally required to work on inspections and ambulance,” an informed source told Lovin Malta.

“Sometimes inspections have to be done by the same two people manning ambulance duties in between calls which means if an emergency comes in, we either leave halfway through the inspection or else we arrive late for a rescue – we can’t be in two places at the same time and this has been going on for ages.”

Over the last days, practically no inspections were done in Malta and none in Gozo.

Remaining workers are being sent to man the ambulance as the emergency service – responsible for picking up and treating hurt animals – remains highest priority alongside transporting animals to and from the vet and delivering kittens to volunteers.

It is more likely that any new reports will not be looked into with a reasonable timeframe.

This means a backlog of inspections on abuse and neglect is not only not being addressed to within a timely manner, with some inspections being done weeks after the initial report, but seeing more cases pile up is an unfortunate reality that has been the norm for over a year.

Most remaining workers are being stretched to cover tasks they aren’t qualified for – including unqualified (people not being employed as Animal Welfare Officers but working as Animal Welfare Officers) or lent workers (workers lent from other government departments which have nothing to do with the care or wellbeing of animals) undertaking the tasks of animal welfare officers.

“We want to work and do overtime to safeguard the welfare of animals and look into reports. We are all animal lovers, but we’re told that overtime to cover the loss of manpower on inspections is out of the question.”

“The important thing for management is that the ambulance for strays is running, to do discharges from hospital and transport animals here and there which is something that can be done by the carers or someone else, not an officer. The long hours spent transporting animals on a daily basis could be utilised for inspections.”