News in Brief for Alicante province’s Costa Blanca South area

New wheels CALLOSA’S Policia Local have added another two cars to their fleet of vehicles, acquired via a four-year leasing contract that will cost the town hall €86,539.    New cars were badly needed, PSOE opposition councillors said, citing occasions when officers were reduced to patrolling in a Proteccion Civil vehicle. 

Pet facts ALICANTE province had 428,000 microchipped dogs and 39,000 cats in 2021, a 20 per cent increase on 2020, according to the region’s Animal Identification Registry (RIVIA) figures.  There are also 18 zebras, five pythons and six panthers although these are not living with owners but at wildlife sanctuaries.

 Mild quake SPAIN’S National Geographic Institute (IGN) registered a 1.8 earth tremor at 5am on March 14, 19 kilometres off the Santa Pola coast, one of the  most seismically-active zones in the province, the experts said. The latest tremor was the 18th this year, and the fourth registered in March.

Holy Week AFTER two years, Holy Week processions return to Elche although conditions will not be entirely the same as before the pandemic.  Changes involve choosing different routes along wider streets owing to the continuing need to avoid crowds and maintain social distancing, the Board of Brotherhoods and Guilds said.

Fast stuff DOLORES hosts the regional Racing Pigeon Championships which, after an interval of two years, will be held between April 2 and 16.  Mayor Joaquin Hernandez said that pigeon racing in Dolores had always belonged to the town’s “culture and idiosyncrasies” and should not be allowed to die out.