Madrid: Following the completion by lawmakers on Monday of the draught of a new Penal Code amendment, zoophilia may soon be made a non-crime in Spain. The legislation is a part of a bill on animal welfare that the Spanish lower house of parliament approved earlier this month and is now awaiting final Senate approval.
The bill was first proposed and pushed through by Spain's Minister for Social Rights, Ione Belarra, who has promoted it as an effort to protect all animals, whether they are domestic pets or wild animals.
The amendment aims to make several changes to the Spanish Penal Code, which, as of 2015, considered animal abuse to be bestiality and suggested a three-month to one-year prison sentence for "injuries that seriously impair" an animal's health or for "subjecting them to sexual exploitation."
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The previous article would be deleted and replaced by a new one titled "crimes against animals" if the Penal Code reform is approved. Only animal owners who "by any means or procedure, including acts of a sexual nature" cause an animal an injury that "requires veterinary treatment to restore its health" would be subject to the new law's punishments.
A penalty of up to €200,000 ($213,800) would be imposed on owners of female dogs who become pregnant if they are not registered as breeders, in addition to harsh fines and prison terms of up to €50,000 ($53,400) for killing a rat at home.
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The Animal Welfare Law would also forbid keeping dogs and cats in small spaces, selling puppies and kittens in pet stores, and outright banning the keeping of some animals as pets.
Spiders, non-native birds like parakeets and lovebirds, hedgehogs, turtles, lizards, snakes, and chameleons are some of these. Rabbits, guinea pigs, chinchillas, mice, and hamsters are currently not allowed animals, nor are rabbits, guinea pigs, or chinchillas.
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The use of wild animals in circuses or other types of cultural performances would also be prohibited, and zoos and dolphinaria would be transformed into facilities for the recovery of native species.
Notably, the bill makes no reference to bullfighting, which the Spanish government considers to be a fundamental aspect of Spanish culture and should be addressed separately.
