The Parliamentary Secretariat for Animal Rights has issued a statement to clarify the recent law announced that regulates the feeding of cats by “cat feeders.”

The Secretariat said that “the Law is there to recognise the work done in the sector and assist where necessary. It is not there to punish those who do good, but those who abuse.”

It explained that “if one sees an animal on the street and gives it food and drink, they will not be fined, as long as they clean up afterwards. However, those who throw food and water outside, which in several cases are leftovers from household food, and leaves it there under the pretext of feeding the cats, will be identified and fined.”

The Secretariat stressed that “these are individual cases and in no way represent the majority of volunteers, who carry out the work of the same cat feeders.”

“?With the Law we must not only protect the rights of the animals, but also of the residents who live in the surroundings, in order to preserve the hygiene, such as nuisance from insects, hornets, mice etc. that relocate to places where the food is put out. These endanger the health and safety of people and the cats themselves,” the Secretariat said.

?The register for cat feeders is there so that it is known who the people are that are responsible for the areas and cat colonies, to reduce abuses, and help them to continue the work they are doing with the animals with various schemes and initiatives (among them the cat feeders’ scheme, neutering campaign, etc) the Secretariat said.

“The Government does not want to to stop the feeding of cats, and is allocating €350,000 in a food voucher scheme to help them,” the Secretariat said. “The cat feeders should be registered with their colonies so that we can be sure that the schemes and initiatives reach those who genuinely do this philanthropic work.”

Anyone who wishes to register as a cat feeder, can do so with the local council of their location. The register is open and there is no deadline until when one can register, it said.

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