Tenerife launches €275,000 plan to tackle stray cat colonies
The Tenerife Cabildo has allocated €275,000 to the College of Veterinarians to roll out a new programme aimed at managing urban cat colonies. The initiative will also give towns with fewer than 10,000 residents access to Zoocan, a database for tracking unregistered dogs and cats.
Valentín González, Tenerife’s councillor for Animal Welfare, said abandoned or feral cats remain “one of the most difficult problems to solve” for many municipalities. The Cabildo and the College of Veterinarians will now work together on a project to control urban cat colonies across the island.
The main measure will be the large-scale sterilisation of stray cats to help reduce their numbers while protecting the environment. The plan will also assist smaller municipalities in managing unidentified pets, aiming to cut the number of animals ending up in shelters.
González noted that under Spain’s new animal welfare law, responsibility for managing cat colonies lies with local councils. To support them, the College of Veterinarians will provide advice on applying the CER method (capture, sterilisation, and return), updating local bylaws, creating an island-wide register of urban cat colonies, and coordinating mass sterilisation campaigns in partnership with veterinary clinics.
The Zoocan system will be made available to the municipalities of Arafo, Arico, Buenavista, Fasnia, Garachico, El Tanque, El Sauzal, La Guancha, La Matanza, La Victoria, Los Silos, San Juan de La Rambla, and Vilaflor.
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