ONE OF THE BIGGEST LIES EVER!

READ THE BIGGEST LIE THAT WAS EVER TOLD, HERE IN MALTA, WITH REGARD TO ANIMAL WELLBEING. FURTHER COMMENTS WOULD BE SUPERFLUOUS!

Focus on animal welfare
Darrell Pace, communications coordinating officer, Ministry for Rural Affairs and the Environment, Valletta.
The letter entitled Animals Still Waiting by Anthony Mizzi (November 8) contains a few inaccuracies that need to be clarified.
The treatment the government reserved for animal welfare NGOs was far from the lip service that Mr Mizzi is implying. Animal welfare was and continues to be an area of high priority for the government. The budgeting of Lm150,000 to assist animal welfare NGOs in their mission confirms that this will remain so in the future.
This was the first time the government voted such a considerable sum to these NGOs.
This followed an earlier decision to allocate three state employees to assist as many NGOs in their daily operation. Furthermore, the announcement of the allocation of these funds was preceded by a number of consultation meetings between ministry officials and NGOs to plan ahead for the use of these funds.
The sum the government voted last year for animal welfare was Lm60,000. This was set aside entirely for the development of an Animal After-Care Centre in Ta' Qali.
Work on this centre proceeded throughout the past year with design and drawing up of the plans and subsequent submission of applications for the necessary permits with the relevant authorities. The development permits were issued a few weeks ago by the Malta Environment and Planning Authority. Work on the actual construction will be starting shortly.