WILLEMSTAD - Animal Protection may catch stray dogs or have them caught. That is the ruling of the Court of First Instance. Several foundations that stand up for animals in Curaçao had filed a case against the Animal Protection organization.
The Curaçao Animal Protection is planning to start a large stray animal catch campaign soon, in which participants who pick dogs and cats from the street will receive compensation.
According to Animal Protection, they are forced to kill strays due to a lack of shelters. The other animal organizations state that killing animals is prohibited by law. In addition, Animal Protection has failed to create shelters.
Animals on the street
According to the judge, the core issue, in this case, is whether the Animal Protection Agency is allowed to carry out its intention to catch stray and free-roaming dogs on the street.
In addition, the question is whether and to what extent Animal Protection must implement provisions included in the new National Ordinance on Animal Welfare of January 2023.
The court rules that the Animal Protection Act does not act unlawfully if it catches stray and stray dogs or has them caught. The court also ruled that the Animal Protection Agency is not the body that should independently implement and shape the provisions of the national ordinance.
The Court states that none of the organizations wants to put down healthy animals and acknowledge this aloud. But because the Animal Protection Act has been given several tasks by law, including the custody and disposal of captured dogs, it is the organization that is specially set for this thankless task. If the shelter or adoption of caught stray dogs is not successful, putting them to sleep is allowed and this is not against the law.