. The council works closely with the Administrative Law Enforcement department, said Dr Vella, as he called upon the public to report any mistreatment of animals to the police immediately.

Dr Vella was speaking at a press conference at which he detailed the work carried out by the council over the past year and outlined its priorities for the next 12 months. Although considerable emphasis has been placed on issues related to pets, most animals are found on farms and not households, which is why the council had decided to focus its attention on these animals during its first year of operation.

The council is working on a programme aimed at addressing, among other things, the problem of stray animals, Dr Vella said. The measures contemplated in the draft include the enforcement of an electronic identification and licensing system for pets, especially dogs.

Over the next year the council will be tackling the more controversial issues related to domestic animals, he said. It is in discussion with various sub-committees and has outlined the priorities on which it will work.

Among the council’s priorities for the next year is the implementation of a programme to control problem of stray animals, the regulation of horse-drawn cabs, animal races in the streets, animal boarding establishments and pet shops. He also announced the introduction of an animal welfare award, details of which will be given in January.

Nominations for the award will be open to anyone who is proved to have made a special contribution towards animal welfare.

On the stray animal issue, Dr Vella said that the issue had generated a considerable amount of discussion among the members of the sub committee. The council was looking at the implementation of a licensing system for pets, and a tattooed or implanted identification system, especially for dogs. At present, pets can be registered at police stations but this is not obligatory.

Ideas in this field are still sketchy, but the council was looking for sponsorship to enable the tagging of the first batch of animals. It fears that if the initial expense of having dogs tagged is considered high, especially by people who have a lot of animals, the owners could throw the animals out onto the streets to avoid paying for the tags.

Dr Vella said that the final draft of proposals regarding horse-drawn cabs is under discussion by the council. He stressed that in all areas, the council was trying to find the way of least confrontation with the parties involved. While attention was being given to the fact that horses are left to bake under the summer sun, said Dr Vella, there were other, possibly more significant, stress factors for the horses. He remarked that many of the horses used for this work are of Tunisian or north African origin and therefore used to the scorching desert sun.

The steep inclines that some of the horses are forced to climb while loaded with passengers are possibly more taxing, Dr Vella stressed.

The council had given the cab drivers a number of regulations that they could consider and give their reactions to. “In general, I found that the cab drivers want to safeguard the horses’ health – after all, it’s their livelihood,” he said.

“The guidelines that we have provided, rather than telling the owner to do this or that, give them the opportunity to assess whether the horse is under stress or not from the way it breathes, for example.” The discussions highlight various conditions where the

horses will be considered to be under stress, including conditions resulting from the external temperature, maximum weight-load and the maximum gradient of slopes on the route the horse travels.

The council has also held discussions with the Veterinary Regulation Division, following which they formulated a draft of the regulations, which underline a number of conditions to be safeguarded when animals are used for races. The regulations consider, among other things, the use of whips and spurs, harnesses, climatic conditions, riding techniques etc. Races are to have three recognised marshals who will see that these conditions are met.

Dr Vella also mentioned boarding establishments, which will now be given a licence and a regulatory regime to follow. He said that some of these facilities are up to standard but that others still require improvements.

Over the past year, a number of regulations were transposed to Maltese law from the respective EU legislation by the Food and Veterinary Regulation Division. Among the legal notices approved and implemented, Dr Vella explained, were new regulations for the housing of cows, with the gradual abolition of cages. Legal notice 259 protects pigs from being farmed in crowded pens while making it obligatory to keep sows in groups and not individually.

Laying hens are also catered for, with regulations stipulating minimum cage sizes and the number of hens to be kept in given spaces.

While some farmers had been asked to alter their methods in compliance with the new rules, most farms did not present any problems and were already compliant with the new legislation.

There were also regulations regarding zoos, Dr Vella explained. Although Malta does not have fully-fledged zoos, there are a number of small animal displays that now also have certain parameters of animal welfare with which they have to comply.