MaltaMedia.com

The Maltese National Canine Federation in relation t0 the article published previously by Maltamedia online entitled ‘Animal cruelty at the airport’ said it is an unnecessary cruelty to leave animals waiting in the scorching sun before being put in quarantine. The Animal Rights Coalition (consisting of 21 Animal Caring Organisations) also issued a release on the creation of shelter for karozzin horses.

The Maltese National Canine Federation showed their support to the article published on the 16th of July about animal cruelty at the airport. “This is not the first time that we heard of similar experiences from our various members who import dogs from abroad,” Leeandra Mizzi Secretary and PRO of the Maltese National Canine Federation.

The article held the experience of one particular Maltese dog owner who lodged a formal complaint with Air Malta over a recent incident. The dog owner had to wait 1 hr 38 min before his dog was handed to him after arriving from London. The Federation added that most dogs are left in crates for a number of hours before the flight and are then left in cages for the whole flight. They added that although many airlines are regulated to respect the animals by providing adequate conditions the same cannot be said for the Shetland sheepdog that reached Malta.

“As a Federation, we condone any act of animal cruelty, especially if this could have been avoided.” The Federation said in a letter to the editor.

The Maltese National Canine Federation is urging for regulations to avoid this unnecessary harm to all animals. It will as an association follow this case and contact Air Malta to discover the motivations behind such delay.

The Animal Rights Coalition (consisting of 21 Animal Caring Organisations) in a release issued on Thursday said “we never thought there would be an issue on the creation of shelters for these working animals, due to the fact that Minister Gatt had committed himself to building and paying for these structures.”

The animal rights coalition said that Minister Gatt on a meeting held the 12th November 2009 said that he would seek a solution to such problems but he failed to do so. The Association is urging the introduction and implementation of heavy fines or loss of license where owners are found to abuse these horses, it was the cab owners committee themselves who had made these suggestions to Transport Malta and the Infrastructure Department to provide the shelter promised.