Postcard from the Algarve

The Portugese are not over fond of animals. Owners who tire of looking after the dog they bought for a child either abandon it away from home, or take it to one of the charity run sanctuaries and claim they are strays. One ex-pat who took pity on the local stray dog and adopted him, found, in the following three weeks, six other dogs tied to his gate.

There are three strays at the local supermarket car park who are fed by a relay of customers, and two more on the edge of town who are cared for by the girl from the video shop. Councils do not provide a pound for strays, and are now widening their bureaucracy to make it difficult for genuine kennels to operate.

Take Phil’s kennels for instance. Up to now he has provided the dogs lodged with him with large stone individual kennels, each with its own long run. In addition he has a fenced two-acre field in which dogs can be released to play during the day. He has no near neighbours who might be disturbed by barking. New regulations have put him out of business.  

To obtain a licence he must concrete over the field to avoid dog waste seeping into the ground. He has to have a separate building as a hospital with a nurse in full time attendance (a Portacabin will not be acceptable, as their maximum interior height is 2.5 metres, and the regulations specify 3 metres). The land on which this hospital is to be sited must be reclassified as urban rather than as at present, rural (this will take about nine months). And the dirt track leading to the kennels must be tarmaced.

Away from the world of pets, there are few wild animals but the hunters have killed most of them. During the season, the hunters are allowed to shoot anything they see on most open land. Several locals who have walked their dogs off the lead through the woods have seen them shot dead by over-enthusiastic hunters who blaze away at anything that moves. Or they have found their pets poisoned, as hunters put down poison to kill stray dogs, which might otherwise scare off the hunters’ now very scarce prey.

So, if you don’t like animals of any sort, come to Portugal - in five years time, it will be an animal free zone.