ROVIGO – For the Una association «it is yet another slap in the face after an activity of more than twenty years rendered to the Municipality free of charge and always impeccable». The letter received on Monday from the Hygiene and Health Section of the municipal administration: with it came the request to “kindly provide feedback within 3 days” to the either/or of becoming the foster carer of the 32 gatti remained in the feline oasis in via De Polzer compared to the 42 from a judicial seizure, which on 9 August had been added to the 37 specimens already hosted, or see their release in feline colonies in Rovigo and beyond.
INSIGHTS
A choice which in Una’s opinion would amount to the crime of abandonment of animals, because they have acquired habits of captivity, according to the lawyer Aldo Guarnieri, a volunteer at Una, who notes that «whether the proceeding is initiated or archived, the cats must be returned to their legitimate owners: if they are released in colonies and microchipping it’s not complete, what happens to them?”.
The story
And so volunteers from the Uomo Natura Animali (Una) association explained how we have reached yet another chapter in the story that began in the middle of summer with the seizure of 7 dogs and 59 cats from a private home. The Municipality, in its role as judicial custodian of the felines, has judged the oasis, which the Una volunteers believe does not have the health requirements due to the absence of a default area, “the only property owned by the municipality with suitable characteristics” .
And it interpreted the agreement extensively, granting free loan for use and management of the area to Una volunteers, providing that “in cases of absolute necessity the association will also take care of animals that cannot be welcomed by resorting to the collaboration of the own volunteers”. Extensively because, Una points out, the agreement does not provide for the obligation to take charge of cats subject to seizure. The association (“voluntary”, he underlines), in the face of either/or, does not intend to abandon the cats, despite the fact that the double shifts have caused injuries to two volunteers and emotional exhaustion to two others. The Municipality, therefore, will receive a warning “for just thinking about releasing cats. Otherwise we will take legal action with a complaint.”
First of all, in fact, comes animal welfare and the health not only of guests in via De Polzer. “We can’t say no to litters and abandoned cats.” One, therefore, asks for a contribution from the Municipality and reimbursement of the expenses incurred so far, equal to “almost 5,000 euros”, while the food made available by the Municipality was sufficient to cover “the needs of 15 days”. Having defined the either/or as “inadmissible”, the deadline of only 3 days to respond is “out of place” (the deadline is tomorrow) after “the Municipality and the veterinary services have been somewhat absent for months” and considering that “at the beginning of September all the parties had agreed to meet in the last days of October, early November, to collectively decide how to proceed”.
The requests
In addition to completing the microchipping of all the cats subjected to seizure (of the initial 42, three have died, one is up for adoption and six are in temporary custody in foster families), Una asks for the 32 seized cats remaining guests of the oasis health tests which, if they went to cat colonies, would avoid the risk of “creating, with good probability, an epidemiological problem in the area, not only for the cats in the colonies, but also for the cats of private individuals who were to come into contact with them” .
The response from the Municipality has not yet arrived on the tests, notes Una, who had requested them from Ulss 5 as part of the health check scheduled for 16 October. Leukemia and feline immunodeficiency screening would cost 2,560 euros (45 euros for each Felv-Fiv exam) and for Giardia tests (35 euros each), according to the costs quantified by the Hygiene Service of Ulss 5, which does not recognize “elements in support of the oasis manager’s requests regarding the tests”.
