THE FOLLOWING IS THE UNEDITED AND UNSHORTENED LETTER AS SENT TO THE TIMES AND WHICH APPEARED TODAY, 24 NOVEMBER.

I was somewhat incensed by the contents of Dr Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando’s article about animals - in which he praised his own Government for the great strides it is taking in favour of animal wellbeing. He also took to task all those who describe Maltese society as ‘animal-unfriendly’. He claims that nothing is further from the truth.
I beg to disagree with him. Totally.
He first speaks about petitions and signatures. The petition was a good exercise, admittedly. But don’t come telling me that a petition, on its own, is enough ‘evidence that Malta is far from being "animal-unfriendly"’. Animals need concrete action, not mere signatures. And concrete action means action NOW, not promises of action in the future.
And what ‘support being given by the Government’ to animal sanctuaries is the Honourable Member speaking about? As far as I know, speaking to various leaders of volunteers of animal sanctuaries, I often get the feeling that there is absolute frustration in these camps, in that the authorities hardly ever listened to these individuals who are doing sterling service to the animal-kingdom, in Malta and Gozo.
Perhaps, I am wrong. Then, I would be most happy for Dr Pullicino Orlando to furnish me with facts.
He speaks about the ‘sterling work’ by the Department of Education in this sphere. True enough. But not enough!
It is great news that once again, the Nationalist government remembered past promises with regard to an animal centre based in Ta’ Qali. However, real animal-lovers have grown used to promises being made by various governments and will not believe that this project will pick up unless, once again, they get facts! It’s useless to boast about projects for the future. Boast about projects that have been implemented, or which are about to be.
Dr Pullicino Orlando seems to prefer giving the amount of money voted for animals in euros than in Maltese lira – probably, €350,000 would look more generous a sum than LM 160,000! That having been said, one has to take into consideration how much money other entities get for the running of their enterprises. Animal welfare NEVER got any money from, say, Lotto and Super 5 earnings which went to other spheres such as sport and cultural events, etc ... When you consider what needs to be done to alleviate the cruelty of animals that are carried out in Malta and Gozo, and when you consider how much money animal-NGO volunteers use from their own pockets, well ... LM 160,00 is nothing.
He claims that this money is going to be used in ‘direct aid to associations involved in the care of abandoned animals and to fund a nation-wide neutering programme in this year's budget’. Is this official? I doubt it. From what I have gathered, much of the funds are being channeled in favour of the neutering program – which, while admittedly it is beneficial, will not solve the problem of animal-cruelty in this country. I agree with the writer: most of the money SHOULD be directed to the needs of sanctuaries. The question, however, is: will they?
Once again, Dr Pullicino Orlando needs to explain in detail – (as an aside, I am sure that The Times will give him ample space for this, probably because he is an MP; I have been trying to get an article on animals published for six or seven weeks, and it never appared!) – in what way/s is the present government backing the voluntary workers involved in this sector.
However, when I read words such as: ‘We're definitely a society which, as a whole, is far from being animal-unfriendly.’, I really realise why Dr Pullicino Orlando writes as he does, about animals in Malta. He definitely lives on cloud nine!
In conclusion, animals do not want the politicians’ attention merely during election-time, in order to try and garner more votes from animal-lovers. It’s not politicians visiting animal-sanctuaries during election-period that is needed, but a definite message to the population that cruelty to animals, in all its forms, will not be tolerated. Zero tolerance to such animal-cruelty is what is needed, and this has to come across in deeds, not in words, empty promises and photo-shoots!