The Labour Party’s spokesman for social dialogue, broadcasting and animal welfare Gino Cauchi heavily criticised the state of affairs at the Animal Welfare Department at the Għammieri government farm yesterday, saying it requires urgent attention.

In response, the Resources and Rural Affairs Ministry pointed out that the centre is not an animal sanctuary; dogs are kept there on a temporary basis until they are homed. There are days when there are more dogs than usual, but this happens because the Animal Welfare Department does not kill animals due to lack of space, as other governments did in the 1980s, said the ministry.

Addressing a press conference, Mr Cauchi said that if the rules stipulated in a recently issued White Paper on animal sanitation standards were already being enforced, the government’s own animal welfare facility would have been the first to be closed down.

He spoke about the overcrowding at the facility, saying that 140 dogs are being housed in an area intended for 70. At the same time, however, an area that can take 60 dogs that was once used for quarantine purposes is not in use.

A number of dogs die at the facility and others are seriously injured, said the Labour MP. And while the government gave the impression in parliament that such cases are very rare, photographs show otherwise, he said, producing photographs of wounded dogs.

Going on to talk about the cats, Mr Cauchi said an official at the department sought to give the impression that the situation is under control by passing on 80 cats to someone who had already been taking care of a number of these animals.

“The situation at the Animal Welfare Department is so bad that a number of employees have gone to work elsewhere. Ten people have been trying to cope with all the work, meaning that inspections are not being carried out, injured animals are receiving first aid hours after reports have been filed, and the service does not exist in Gozo.”

Mr Cauchi also spoke about the San Franġisk Centre in Ta’ Qali, noting that while the government said it had built the centre, it failed to mention that it would be managed by a private company and that people would be charged commercial rates. At the same time, the government said it is still paying the centre’s electricity bills.

But the ministry said the private company treats injured cats and dogs rescued by the Animal Welfare Department free of charge. It was granted the contract following a public call for tenders in which the conditions were specified.

The ministry added that the Opposition has again failed to come up with ideas and proposals, and has again demonstrated its negative attitude.

“What the Opposition failed to say is that we gave them all the information they requested about the San Franġisk Centre, and Mr Cauchi also had the opportunity to ask questions when he visited the centre.”

On the dog micro-chipping process, the Labour MP said it is intended to be concluded at the end of next month, but thousands of dogs – apart from the 22,000 mentioned by the minister – have not yet been micro-chipped because of the high price of the procedure (€23) in Malta.

Moreover, a number of dogs that had been micro-chipped have not yet been registered in the database, and there have already been cases of micro-chipped dogs whose owners could not be traced, said Mr Cauchi.

He praised the Ta’ Qali Dog Park project and said he hoped that more such facilities would be set up in the future.

Reacting to the Opposition’s criticism of the micro-chipping process, the Resources and Rural Affairs Ministry said that, according to the new regulations, every dog owner has to register their dog by having it micro chipped by a vet of their choice. The regulations also establish that vets should charge €11.80 for neutered dogs and €22.70 for those that are not neutered. These prices include the microchip, the injection and the licence.

“What Mr Cauchi failed to say is that over the past 50 years, by law, dog owners were required to have a police licence issued for an annual fee of €2.33, meaning that if a dog lived for at least 10 years, dog owners were obliged to pay €23.30 over that 10-year period. This system will now become obsolete.”

The Ministry added that the government had invested a great deal in the animal welfare sector over the last few years, and while the Opposition failed to acknowledge the progress made, the government acknowledged that a lot of good work has been done, but it has still set itself higher targets in the sector.

The Labour MP also called for the provision of shelters for karozzin (horse-drawn cab) horses; despite all its promises, the government has only set up one such shelter – in Marsamxett – when four were supposed to have been provided in Valletta, and others in Sliema, St Julian’s, Qawra, Buġibba and Mdina.