There’s no stopping Faro’s mayor as he continues to announce voter-friendly initiatives to ease his way back into the president’s seat, come local election time this autumn.
Picking off voter segments one-by-one, this time it's animal lovers, Rogério Bacalhau has announced that Faro’s ratepayers are to fund a 150-animal municipal kennel for the lost and stray cats and dogs on his manor.
Each of the Algarve’s councils is obliged by law to establish and maintain kennel facilities, but not all have bothered while putting the necessary investment on hold as discussions and feasibility studies into two ‘super kennels’ are carried out.
The Official Collection Centre for Faro was announced by Bacalhau during the 'Animal Welfare, Public Health, Crime and Rights', conference on Saturday.
The president confirmed that the €400,000 budget for the construction of the kennel in Patacão was included in the budget revision recently approved for 2017 and added that the project will start in 2018, with the planning and paperwork being attended to in the meantime.
"This is an absolutely necessary work in the municipality which lacks a municipal infrastructure for issues related to animals," said Bacalhau, stressing that "the protocol between the municipality and the Canil de São Francisco in Loulé is not sufficient for Faro’s needs."
Under the new animal protection laws any resident cats and dogs may not be slaughtered and therefore Bacalhau wants speed up the adoption process in partnership with animal welfare associations.
"It is not desirable that the animals are in the kennels for more time than is necessary for their recovery or to be adopted," says the mayor.
As for the 'super kennel' project, Rogério Bacalhau says that Faro must have its own kennels, "even within the hypothetical existence of an inter-municipal super kennel, the study that the mayors group AMAL carried out involves the existence of council kennels."
"First of all, it is necessary to create a structure that allows a real-time response at the municipal level, which would not be possible without this kennel, even if there was an inter-municipal super kennel," said Bacalhau.
Animal care and adoption association, Pravi - Faro, was delighted at the news that at last the council is to take this matter seriously, with its local director, Marta Correia, saying, "it is with great pleasure that the association receives the news that the current council will equip the municipality with a capable response to situations of abandonment and ill-treatment of animals in Faro."
