Our parrots and birds

You might find the contents of this link interesting and I will quote this from it:

"my 84-year-old mother-in-law has an African grey parrot born on our premises 22 years ago. It’s her pet. From one day to the next, this animal, which we regard as a member of the family, will become illegal and the administration will be able to confiscate it. The same thing will happen in hundreds of thousands of Spanish homes. Do they consider it normal?"

https://www.psittacus.com/en/complaints/2022/08/08/exotic-pets-illegalized-in-spain

If the Euroweeklynews article / link below is correct its not just exotic species, its rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters, budgies etc etc as well, once again an over reaching law by incompetant officials.

https://euroweeklynews.com/2023/08/28/spain-enforces-new-restrictions-on-home-pets-from-september/

Our peanut was born in captivity & would not cope in the wild. He calls us mummy & daddy. He is our world & us his. We’ve built him a special peanut palace & he chats all day with us. We would leave Spain with him rather than give him, from his safe loving home to an over capacity refuge (where he could be bullied or killed by other parrots) that is also underfunded (poor diet).

It would fit the authorities better to imprison the owners who allow their dogs to bark all night with absolutely no control over them…. I find this one of the most infuriating aspects of life in Spain, it’s ridiculous.

Hi Ron, 

Yep, the same law-makers who allowed the Spanish hunting industry to influence the exclusion of dog breeds from the protection of these new, so-called "Animal Welfare" regulations - not to mention the animals being hunted.  We're not allowed to keep and care for domestic bunnies, but hunters can chase them with guns and dogs!

Hi Kazza,

I wouldn't usually encourage people to break the law, but I do wonder how the police would know that you're keeping a restricted breed?  Currently, we have two homing pigeons nesting in our garden - a paloma with the white ribbon tied into her tail feathers and a colourfully painted male.  I've been expecting for over a month now an owners' club to climb our garden walls to retrieve them, but nothing.  Both birds are tagged and our local police have said on two separate visits that they would report it to Seprona, but no-one has called.  And despite the first stage of the new laws instituted last year, I can walk 5 minutes from my house and still see several dogs chained up in properties that are not permanently occupied, so the police certainly don't appear to be proactively enforcing these laws.

This piece from Citizens' Advice Spain, specifically with reference to Article 24, General obligations regarding companion and wild animals in captivity, does not appear to suggest that wild animals kept in captivity will automatically have to be handed over to authorities, unless they are being kept in conditions that fail to comply with the new law:

https://www.citizensadvice.org.es/new-law-on-animal-welfare/

And reading the following article, I was struck by the bullet point stating, "Identification of pets within 3 months of the animal's birth or 30 days from the date of purchase, the animal must be registered in the municipal census and identified with a microchip by a veterinarian".  As the ownership of your parrot pre-dates the new law, I think there's an argument to say you wouldn't be able to comply with this particular requirement - well, that's the position I'd take.

https://odiceabogados.com/en/key-animal-welfare-laws-2023/

I'm sure the new law is intended to protect animals against unscrupulous breeders and owners, but has managed to bring all conscientious and caring pet owners into scope.  If you can prove that the animal was bred in captivity and is clearly healthy and well looked after, I can't see how removing it is in the best interests of the animal.  Do you have a trusted vet you could ask?  If not, I think I'd let sleeping dogs - sorry, parrots - lie.

Kind regards,

Kim

You might also find the contents of this link helpful from Citizens Advice Spain:

https://www.citizensadvice.org.es/new-law-on-animal-welfare/