International conference Party for the Animals in Madrid brings together animal protectors from 20 countries
AMSTERDAM, 4 October 2017 – Last weekend, the Dutch Party for the Animals (PftA) and Spanish sister party PACMA organised an international conference on the stray dog problem. Representatives of parties for animals and animal welfare organisations from 20 countries shared their experiences with the aim of improving the situation of stray dogs worldwide.
During the conference, participants from all parts of the world – from Serbia to Taiwan, from Georgia to Morocco and from Colombia to Oman – exchanged knowledge and inspired one another to reach animal friendly solutions to the worldwide stray dog problem through politics.
Senator Christine Teunissen (PftA): “There are approximately 600 million stray dogs worldwide. National and local governments often use cruel and ineffective policies to control stray dog populations. Dogs are often poisoned or shot off. This happens without results: the growth of the stray dog population still continues. We support organizations and parties who want to change this through (local) political solutions.”
Animal welfare organisations from several countries shared experiences from their own countries. A Ukrainian organisation talked about its highly innovative and affordable digital tool for the registration and monitoring of stray animals, the so-called Animal-ID. Moroccan delegate Sally Kadaoui discussed her unique and successful method to involve local communities near the Moroccan city Tangier in improving the situation of stray dogs in that region.
Marianne Thieme’s lecture
As part of the conference, Marianne Thieme gave a lecture. In a hall of Museum Lázaro Galdiano, Thieme, being the PftA’s founder and political chairman, discussed the party’s role in encouraging the animal rights debate in the Netherlands as well as abroad. She also outlined the importance of political interference in improving the status of animals, nature and the environment; clearly live issues in Madrid, as Thieme’s lecture was sold out.
Growing international movement
The Party for the Animals is the world’s first political party representing not only short-term human interests, but the interests of the entire planet and all its inhabitants. Being electorally successful, the party currently has 53 elected representatives, five of which are in the Dutch Parliament, two in the Dutch Senate and one in the European Parliament. No Dutch political party was ever as successful as a ‘export product’ as the Dutch PftA. There are currently 18 parties for animals worldwide. On Sunday, October 1st, the last day of the conference, the Portuguese party for the animals (Pessoas-Animais-Natureza, or “PAN”) made huge gains in the Portuguese local elections: the party gained a total of 32 seats at local elections and is now represented in 78% of the Portuguese municipalities.