Calpe Town Council is already preparing an ethical management programme for cat colonies with the aim of regulating and improving the coexistence between urban cat colonies and citizens, as well as improving the quality of life of community cats. This is an obligation stipulated by state and regional animal welfare regulations which establish that cat colonies are the responsibility of local councils, and to this end they must develop cat colony management programmes.
The ethical management programme aims, on the one hand, to control the feline population in the municipality through the T.S.R. method, trap, sterilise and return, which has been shown to be the best system for this, as well as for maintaining the health of the cats. The programme will establish the locations of the cat colonies as well as the people who will be authorised to feed the cats, for which they will need a feeder card. Likewise, through this programme, measures will be established to guarantee the health care of the cats and, finally, the aim is to minimise inconvenience to the public, as well as to encourage collaboration between animal protection associations and volunteers and the city council.
As a preliminary step to the development of this programme, the council has opened a public consultation for citizens to make their contributions and suggestions. They can do so in person at the Town Hall Registry (Citizen Service Office), electronically through the Virtual Office of the Town Hall: - https://Calpe.sedelectronica.es/ - or by sending their contributions to the email bienestar.animal@ajcalpe.es. This public consultation ends on 1 April.