The APH Veterinary Hospital in Ta' Qali, which has been closed for over a year since August 2023, would have likely reopened by now had the government's proposed amendments of the hospital's emphyteusis gone through, Parliamentary Secretary for Fisheries, Aquaculture, and Animal Rights Alicia Bugeja Said said.

Asked by The Malta Independent on Sunday to clarify the circumstances around the hospital's closure, the Parliamentary Secretary said the animal hospital closed down after it suffered damages caused by an electrical power surge. She said that the hospital operated on public land passed on  via emphyteusis by the government to the private sector, and that prior to the power surge, the government had been asked to change the conditions of the emphyteusis as the hospital was "not economically viable with the conditions (at the time)".

Following this request, she said that the government went to parliament and tried to change the criteria of the emphyteusis, and a feasibility report was also tabled alongside the proposed amendments. Bugeja Said stated that the Opposition was not satisfied with the proposal, and that both political parties tried to find a compromise. With this in mind, she remarked that with hindsight, the government believes that it should have gone steadfast with its decision, "but we wanted to listen to what the Opposition wanted to say back then, and we decided to go back to the drawing board".

She said that the discussion on the proposed amendments to the emphyteusis took place a couple or so months before the hospital closed down, and commented that had the changes been put into place prior, "the private sector would have retained it and would have tried to fix the problem and reopen as soon as possible, but the current agreement seems to not have been viable for the operator to continue."

"The silver lining of this," Bugeja Said commented, was that with the government wanting to have a new veterinary course in the country, this was the time when MCAST expressed interest and readiness to buy the emphyteusis from the private sector so that the animal hospital could be used to train students, adding that the hospital is set to be used from the second year of the course so that students can practice under the supervision of the staff.

"The emphyteusis now falls under MCAST, which falls under the Education Ministry, and from my understanding, they are working day and night to get the hospital reopened through another operator," she said.

Pet owners' concern

The Parliamentary Secretary said that she fully understands pet owners who are concerned about the animal hospital being closed. She said that Maltese law specifies that veterinary services need to be provided 24/7, and that veterinary clinics shall provide or be part of a 24-hour emergency service. She continued that the Malta Veterinary Association provides this service. While clarifying that this service is not a replacement for the animal hospital, "however, many of the veterinary clinics in Malta do provide a lot of services and are nearly hospitals". She commented that "the only thing they do not offer is overnight stay," but that some clinics are still capable of providing that service as well.

She said that 40% of the population had pets prior to the APH opening in Malta, and that those pet owners visited vets to give medical assistance to their animals. "It does not mean that with the opening of the hospital the vets were not required to give 24-hour service; it is in the law that these clinics shall provide a 24-hour emergency service."

The Malta Independent on Sunday asked Bugeja Said if the government is taking steps to incentivise veterinarians with a particular focus on farm animals. She replied that the government sought to ensure that there are sufficient vets to serve farm animals, and so she believes that the course will provide experience in all different segments of veterinary medicine. She said that much like doctors, those who study to become veterinarians eventually choose to specialise in a field, and added that "we need to ensure that we have more vets specialising in farm animals".

She continued that the government is implementing a manifesto measure to assist farmers to have veterinary advisory schemes, "where a farmer can actually benefit from free veterinary services for their farm". She said that there is a "regulatory role" where the government sends vets to farms to check that they are in line with the law, but that an additional factor is that if one needs advice on how there can be better welfare for their farm animals, "then the government is going to provide a totally different scheme for that".

The topic of conversation then shifted to challenges faced by the Animal Welfare Directorate (AWD), particularly in regard to the issue of limited space and helping abandoned animals. Bugeja Said was asked how challenging it would be to expand the AWD's facilities and allocate more resources to rescuing animals such as stray dogs.

The Animal Welfare Directorate

She replied that the AWD, as a government directorate, is responsible for rescuing dogs, cats, and other animals in dire need of help and care, including medical assistance. Going over statistics from last year, she said that the AWD collected over 1,330 animals, with 874 being cats, 425 dogs, and 31 other animals. She added that 58 of these collected animals were returned to their owners.

Bugeja Said stated that some animals are kept at the AWD, while others are homed through adoption schemes or given to animal sanctuaries. "The reality is that if a dog is safe, and not enduring problems related to medical reasons, then vets state it is better to not collect them," she commented. "Sometimes I say this and people stare at me... I wish that we did not need sanctuaries in Malta, because I see it as unfair that dogs are imprisoned for life behind a cell, it's like a prison. Of course, when there is the need to collect, we collect, and we have invested in new animal ambulances to ensure that this service is done in a more efficient manner."

On the matter of animal sanctuaries, the Parliamentary Secretary was asked what she believes is causing the strain on animal sanctuaries, which have spoken about operating at full capacity and being under continuous strain. Additionally, she was asked how this challenge could be addressed.

Bugeja Said replied that during the past two and a half years since she has been responsible for animal welfare, she believes that there has been an increase in abandonment. She continued that based on the figures, the situation could be a result of Covid. She said that people were leading a different way of life during Covid and had more time on their hands, and so many people decided to get pets. "Fast forward a year, after the pandemic, normality came back, and unfortunately the pets became a problem for some people's way of living. It's really unfair that we find microchipped dogs abandoned, and of course we call the owners, and if they don't take it back they have to be fined because it is a direct breach of the animal welfare law," she said, adding that this is an unfortunate reality which she believes has hit the island as a result of the pandemic.

Concerning the strain on sanctuaries, she said that campaigns to promote adoption over buying pets have relieved some of the strain, and added that the government has been helping sanctuaries as much as possible through initiatives such as free veterinary services for NGOs and the introduction of funds for maintenance and important supplies such as medicine and food.