The Animal Welfare Law promoted by Minister Ione Belarra and approved in Congress with the votes of PSOE, Podemos, ERC and Bildu has introduced an important
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an important change in the Spanish Penal Code by changing the term ‘domestic animal’ to ‘vertebrate animal’. A vertebrate animal is any animal that has bones and an articulated skeleton or backbone. Now, under the new law, striking, injuring or killing a vertebrate animal will be punishable by imprisonment or a fine.
community service of between eighteen and twenty-four months” for anyone who causes the death of a non-domestic vertebrate animal. The category of vertebrate animal includes any animal that has a skeleton with a vertebral column and skull, so killing a fish, a mouse, a dog or a lizard is punishable in the same way. Killing a snake that slithers into the garden would also carry a prison sentence of between six and eighteen months, according to this rule.
The amendment also means that if we hit a mouse or rat that enters the house and do not kill it but cause injuries that require veterinary attention, we could face a prison sentence of between three and 12 months if we are reported to the police.