There are more and more ARISTOPETERS among us. We love that, and it fills us with joy. We don’t know one another, but we share a common love that means we have much more in common than we realize. Unfortunately, what we generally don’t share is the legal framework.
In Spain, the registration of companion animals is the responsibility of the autonomous communities. There is no single nationwide register, as there is in other countries. As a result, the role of the Spanish Network for the Identification of Companion Animals, commonly known as REIAC, is very limited. Logically, this has a number of consequences. To begin with, it is very difficult to obtain accurate figures for the number of companion animals registered and identified throughout the country.
That is why we have to rely on studies prepared for the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and the Environment. According to the latest study, prepared in November 2015, there are 7,438,689 registered ARISTODOGS in Spain, 430,683 ARISTOCATS, and 48,456 pets of other species (birds, fish, fowl, and small mammals such as ferrets and hamsters…).
If we take a closer look at the report, we can see that Andalusia is the autonomous community with the most registered ARISTOPETS: 2,164,686 ARISTODOGS, 119,367 ARISTOCATS, and 27,624 animals of other species. It is followed by Madrid, with 1,132,936 ARISTODOGS and 139,109 ARISTOCATS; Catalonia and the Valencian Community come next. At the other end of the scale is Navarre, the community with the fewest ARISTODOGS (just 151,256), and Extremadura, the region with the fewest ARISTOCATS and animals of other species: 1,930 and 325, respectively.
The organizations responsible for registration warn, on the one hand, that when an animal dies, the owner usually does not report it as deceased, unless the death occurs at a veterinary clinic. As a result, many records may actually correspond to animals that have already died. On the other hand, they report that ARISTODOG registration is more widespread than ARISTOCAT registration. This is partly because cats are indoor animals that do not usually go outside, so the need for identification in case they go missing is less pressing. Likewise, people in cities are more aware of the importance of registering properly than people in rural areas, since in many towns and villages it is still customary for animals to roam freely. For all these reasons, this type of data should be treated with caution.
What cannot be treated lightly is the lack of consensus and uniformity among companion animal registration and identification systems. Because they affect us and our best friends.
– There are 17 different animal protection laws. Each regulates different aspects and establishes different rules, ranging from the species whose identification is mandatory to mandatory vaccinations.
– There are 17 different databases. Each community has its own independent database, with no connection to those of the others. Naturally, the fields included in each database also vary.
– There is no uniformity regarding procedures or regulations. For example, in Madrid, a dog is considered abandoned if its owner does not claim it within ten days. In Andalusia, that period is reduced to five days.
There is also no uniformity in how the registers are managed. In some communities, management is handled by the administration itself, while in others it is handled by the College of Veterinarians.
This creates endless complications and a maddening level of paperwork and bureaucracy. However, the most serious situation arises when an ARISTOPET goes missing in an autonomous community where it is not registered. These cases can become a real nightmare because of the loss itself, but also because of the helplessness it creates…
a) The lack of communication between registers. This can make it impossible to transfer data, since these are private databases and the organizations managing them are not required to share information under the Data Protection Act.
b) The difficulty of contacting owners, since they operate under different legal frameworks. In addition, if the contact details are not up to date, the owner may not receive the relevant notifications and their animal may be declared abandoned. Besides the harm this causes the ARISTOPET, it also entails significant legal consequences.
For all these reasons, until this is resolved, we recommend keeping your ARISTOPETS properly registered, with all their details fully up to date. We’ll do our part. In this post, we explain how to do it.
