At least 98 councils and inter-municipal entities have applied for financial support to sterilise stray animals. October was the deadline stipulated by the government for councils to make the necessary adaptations for the law change, and the government has said this week that will not be extending that deadline, as requested by the National Association for Portuguese Municipalities.
What the legislation does not explain however is what will happen to the facilities that do not fulfil the new requisites.
The possibility of extending the deadline had been raised in May by the Director-General of Veterinary Medicine. Now in a joint response to newspaper Público, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Development and the Directorate General of Food and Veterinary Affairs (DGAV) the government has guaranteed that they will not interfere with the legislation approved in Assembly in 2016, which set an adaptation period of two years.
The municipalities then had 24 months to promote a system of catch, sterilise and adoption of the strays. They were instructed to build or expand so-called official stray collection centres, improve existing housing conditions, and progressively eliminate the use of euthanasia, since it would become prohibited to do so in healthy animals even for reasons of overcrowding or economic incapacity.
From October, euthanasia will be limited to cases where animals pose a danger to others.
Last year, municipalities put down close to 12,000 dogs and cats - an average of more than one animal per hour.