A letter to the media on 20 August expressed the fear that the SPCA in Gozo might close down. If I am not mistaken, one of its biggest problems is the lack of space, and, of course, funds.

Stories and letters to the media have shown that there is growing awareness of our responsibility to these living things that end up being thrown out into the street as so much trash. And so many of these creatures end up poisoned by callous individuals or run over by a car, sometimes accidentally and sometimes deliberately. Every day is a Russian-roulette day for these abandoned animals.

And if the SPCA closes down the problem will most definitely worsen. Gandhi said that a country is judged by the way it treats its animals. How will they judge us if we let this one, this only one haven for these animals, disappear.

In his pastoral letter, Bishop Mario Grech spoke of the existence of public funds being wasted, misused – I am sure that the government can find a way of helping the local SPCA that is providing a great social service and which is helping create a “civilized”‘ image of Malta in the Gandhian sense.

Anna Falzon

QALA