A Plan for More Humane End-of-Life Options for Animals
The Partido Socialista (PS) in Funchal is proposing two new public services aimed at giving pets in the municipality a more respectful and legal end-of-life process. Rui Caetano, the PS candidate for president of the city council, announced the party's commitment to opening a public pet crematorium and creating a municipal cemetery for animals.
in 2017, the Funchal municipality acquired a crematorium for pets, but, to this day, the equipment is in an irregular situation due to lack of licensing, being the only animal crematorium in Madeira belongs to a private entity and the high costs of the service make it unfeasible its use by most Madeiran families
Partido Socialista (PS), Diário de NotÃcias Madeira
This initiative comes in response to long-standing concerns from residents and animal welfare groups.
This is a long-delayed response that the PS will insist on from being realized, preventing animals, companions of a lifetime, who made part of a family, end up in a landfill or incinerated along with the urban garbage.
Rui Caetano, Diário de NotÃcias Madeira
A Response to a Lack of Infrastructure
Caetano made the announcement after meeting with Ajuda a Alimentar Cães (‘Help Feed Dogs'), an animal rights association that he praised for its work in Madeira. He pointed out that Madeira still lacks appropriate and legal ways to handle pet remains. The only functioning crematorium on the island belongs to a private company, and its services are often too expensive for most families. As a result, most pet remains are incinerated as urban waste at the Meia Serra Solid Waste Treatment Plant.
Health, Legality, and Dignity
The PS argues that the current situation not only disrespects the emotional bond between owners and their pets, but also leads to public health risks. Many pet owners reportedly avoid the formal process by burying their animals in backyards or rural land, often without proper authorization. This practice violates environmental and health rules.
Faced with this reality, some animal owners flee in this way that they consider dishonorable, burying them in backyards and farms without authorization, violating environmental and public health regulations, which cannot constitute an admissible solution.
Rui Caetano, Diário de NotÃcias Madeira
To help cover operating costs, Caetano suggested working with other city councils to develop shared protocols for crematorium use across the region.
A Municipal Cemetery for Pets
Alongside the crematorium, the PS plans to establish a municipal cemetery for pets. The space would be located on public land not suited for construction and would be open to both local residents and, in justified cases, to visitors with pets.
Caetano added that municipal fees would apply to both cremation and burial services, but stressed that support would be available for families in need.
In a strong message to current authorities, Caetano criticized what he described as political and economic failures.
They lose the legitimacy to enforce strict protection rules and animal welfare, when they themselves, for economic, political or other reasons, even more serious, negligence, they do not comply with the most basic rules of sanity animal, public health and care for the families that love and care for them an end compatible with the life they made a point of providing them.
Source: Diário de NotÃcias Madeira
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