The failure of the Animal Welfare Council exposed the government’s indifference to animal rights, MLP spokesmen Joe Brincat and Roderick Galdes said in a statement yesterday.

It was clear that the government was insensitive to the country’s need to improve upon these rights and to help non-governmental organisations which sacrificed time and effort in this regard, they said in a statement.

The spokesmen were referring to the fact that the Animal Welfare Council could not hold its meeting last week because there was no quorum. They also mentioned the resignations of people who were appointed to the council by the government.

Dr Brincat and Mr Galdes said the government had removed the Animal Welfare Steering Committee that had been set up by the Labour government, which had carried out sterling work. The Nationalist government had opted to remove the committee “for partisan reasons”.