Spanish town gives animal residents equal rights

A TOWN in Castilla y Leon Province has become the first to recognise its animal residents as worthy of equal rights.
Trigueros de Valle, whose human inhabitants number just 300, has drawn up legislation to guarantee the rights of cats and dogs in the town. The town’s mayor, Pedro J Perez Espinosa, has drawn up the Renedo Declaration, a bill of rights which recognises cats and dogs as town residents.
The mayor argued that since animals have co-existed alongside human beings for thousands of years, all residents, human and non-human, should be represented by him.
The town council unanimously approved the bill, which points out that “all residents are born equal and have the same right to existence” and are “entitled to respect.” The document explicitly outlaws animal cruelty, including abandonment of an animal classifying it as a “cruel and degrading act.”
The declaration has been welcomed by animal charities in Spain, a spokesperson from Rescate 1, an animal rights NGO, calling it a “great day for humans and non-humans alike.”