Monday, July 06, 2009

It’s worse than cruel, it’s dangerous

It is no wonder that many Brits here are of the opinion that Spaniards are not very kind towards animals. Forget the bulls that get killed in the corridas, it is the number of dogs that are abandoned on the roadside that upsets animal lovers. Not only is it cruel to leave dogs by the road, it is downright dangerous.

According to the Traffic Department, abandoned dogs wandering the roadways caused nearly 3,000 traffic accidents in Spain in 2008.

Abandoned dogs were the cause of nearly a quarter (23 per cent) of all accidents related to animals on the roadway, behind only wild boars (javalí), which made up 31 per cent of the 12,000 incidents last year. 

The number of animal-related accidents has doubled since 2004, when there were a total of 6,000.  Last year eight people were killed in accidents caused by animals on the roadway.

Ninety-four per cent of animal-related accidents involve the vehicle hitting the animal, while the remainder are caused by the driver manoeuvring to avoid hitting it, said Aurora Cedenilla, deputy director of the Traffic Department (DGT).

Last week, Trafico launched a campaign against pet abandonment in collaboration with animal protection groups and pet food maker Pedigree. Let us hope they have some success.

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