We have a lot to learn from our Portuguese neighbors. May 1, 2017, will go down in the history of the Lusitanian country as the day animals stopped being things and became legal persons. This news occupied all the front pages and news broadcasts, ahead of the day officially celebrated on that date: Labor Day. And that day marked a before and after. As of May 1, hitting one's pet can prove very costly for an owner. An ARISTOCAT may be entitled to a maintenance allowance. And a judge will decide the type of custody if the ARISTOPET's parents get divorced. All of this and much more is what May 1, 2017, means for animals in Portugal. A historic date.
The legislative change approved a few months ago by the Assembly of the Republic changes the legal status of animals, which become “living beings” instead of “things.” This change opens up a wide range of legal and judicial considerations that Portuguese judges will soon have to address, particularly when ruling on divorce cases in which the couple cannot reach an agreement.
In such cases, a judge will have to rule on which person keeps the animal or animals. This is something that, as we already told you in this post, is still not considered in Spain. But that is not all: judges will also have to decide what to do with the pet if neither party wants it, which unfortunately often happens. Options range from sending it to an animal shelter, placing it with an animal protection organization, or requiring the owners to share custody… Family courts will be responsible for settling these matters and will have to base their decisions on factors such as which home is best for the animal to live happily and which of the two owners has more time to properly care for the pet (notice that we do not use the term ARISTOPARENT here, because if someone neglects their pet, they are obviously not worthy of that title).
Likewise, once the pet's future residence has been determined, more issues arise, as they say. For example, whether the person who takes care of the pet can demand a maintenance allowance from the other party. For food, microchipping, vaccinations, veterinary expenses… If this is how it works with children, it makes sense to apply the same model to ARISTOPETS, bearing in mind that they are part of the family and that Portugal has very few children, only 1.5 million, compared with nearly seven million pets.
The reform of the Portuguese Civil Code also goes further in addressing the mistreatment, abandonment, or death of any animal, pet or otherwise, involving “unjustified suffering,” which could lead to a wave of complaints with stronger legal support. In 2016, Portugal had only three convictions out of 1,300 complaints. This contrasts with the figures from Spain, since according to the Nature Protection Service (Seprona) of the Civil Guard, last year it carried out more than 12,400 operations against animal mistreatment as a result of 783 criminal offenses, leading to the arrest or investigation of 490 people, in addition to 11,729 administrative offenses.
Lawyers and legislators themselves are divided over the law's practical consequences and hope that judges will gradually establish case law in a world that was previously unknown. But with or without uncertainty, this moment had to come. Especially in a country like Portugal, where there are nearly seven million pets. It was therefore essential for this matter to begin being legislated and to set a precedent for countries that, hopefully, following Portugal's example, will move to change the legal status of our best friends.
