Spain’s Social Rights Minister, Ione Belarra announced during a recent press conference that as part of proposed changes to animal welfare laws, the country will be converting zoos and dolphinariums into recovery centres for native species to “allow children to get to know local wildlife and be raised with values supporting animal protection.”
The Minister advised that zoos would be banned from purchasing or breeding non-native species. As Spain holds beluga whales which are non-native, how this will impact the public display industry is as yet unclear, as this announcement has already met with objection from the zoo fraternity. The draft law will face a public hearing, another reading in the cabinet, and a parliamentary vote.
