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One of the problems that we can still find too often today in our society are cases of animal abuse. It should be borne in mind that, currently, there are different laws (both at the local, regional or state level) that regulate how the animals should be treated. In this way, any action that violates the rights of animals, as long as it is established by law, may be reportable as animal abuse.
However, one of the problems that may arise in the cases in which this mistreatment is witnessed is that, despite having the necessary evidence, it is not known exactly what is the procedure to follow, or where to report animal abuse to be sure that the complaint continues its legal course. If you want to know a little more about what you should do in these cases, continue reading Green Ecologist and we will tell you how and where to report animal abuse in Spain.
Who to notify in case of witnessing animal abuse?
Throughout the national territory, the security body in charge of controlling and managing complaints of animal abuse is the SEPRONA, which is a division of the Civil Guard dedicated to this type of task. In fact, the name SEPRONA comes from the first syllables of the Nature Protection Service, since, in addition to complaints of animal abuse, it also deals with many other jobs related to nature, the environment and the rural environment. .
Thus, if you witness a case of animal abuse, what you have to do is contact SEPRONA by calling the Civil Guard toll-free number directly or, if you prefer, contacting by email. However, if the animal abuse that we are witnessing is taking place at the same time we want to contact SEPRONA, the most advisable thing to do is to do it by phone, since they will send a patrol to appear in situ and can draw up minutes.
The importance of testing
Another important aspect when reporting animal abuse is having evidence to present to the competent authorities. In this sense, it is essential write down all the data that may be of interest to carry out the investigation, from the moment and the place, to the description of the type of abuse that is being carried out, the description of the person or persons who carry it out, the conditions of the animal, and so on.
Likewise, in addition to recording the information, another fundamental aspect will be graphic documents or multimedia. In this way, it is essential that we use the means at our disposal (the mobile phone camera should be enough) to document the abuse we are witnessing and thus be able to provide evidence of it in form of photos and videos.
What to do when animal abuse is seen on the Internet or social networks?
Although the most common thing when you witness a case of animal abuse is to report it directly to SEPRONA, there is the possibility that the case of abuse in question is not seen by us directly, but that we get to your viewing through information technologies. In this way, if we find documents that may be the case of animal abuse, whether on the Internet, received through WhatsApp or other type of messaging, etc., it is best to notify the authorities. through the police page itself (www.policia.es).
The police page includes a section called "citizen collaboration" (It is not the same as "citizen participation"). In this section, citizens can contact the security forces and bodies to inform them of facts that they consider require their attention.
In this section on “citizen collaboration”, there are other subsections where different types of crimes are specified. Currently, there is still no specific subsection for cases of animal abuse. However, the subsections "technological crimes" or "other communications" can be used to provide information related to cases of animal abuse that have been observed through the Internet, messaging, social networks, etc.
An important aspect when using this service is that does not in itself constitute a formal complaint. However, the agents in charge of controlling this type of information provided by the citizen will investigate the evidence and the rest of the information, so it could be the beginning of an investigation if it is considered that the images provided may effectively lead to a crime of animal abuse and, likewise, take all the corresponding measures.
If you want to read more articles similar to Where to report animal abuse in Spain, we recommend that you enter our category of Pets.
