Calvià Daily

Saturday 4^th February 2017

Calvià Town Hall reports on the action to control the population of goats on the public estate of Galatzó.

In this legislature, work is under way to recover a traditional use of the public estate of Galatzó with an agricultural project that includes obtaining the certificate of ecological farm and the recovery of native breeds and agriculture. One of the first actions that was carried out was to remove the hunting grounds that existed in previous legislatures, within the philosophy of conservation above fun. In this sense, it was allocated to animal welfare the item of 4,000 euros that in the previous legislature was used to release partridges, with the sole purpose of ludic hunting activity.

There is a recognised problem of proliferation of feral non-native goats throughout the Serra de Tramuntana and its devastating effects on the ecosystem. For reasons of custody of the territory, the Animal Welfare Department of the Town Hall had to intervene and request an action to preserve the ecosystem of the estate. Different methodologies were studied, seeing that the only viable was the one of the population control by culling. When in an invasive species its population increases in an uncontrolled way, attacks against the ecosystem take place jeopardising other species, both animal and vegetal, and its for this reason why it was forced to undertake this action, that was carried out by accredited technicians, observing all the security measures and following the current regulations, in a period (September) in which the visits are reduced.

The Town Hall also wants to make clear that this legislature is working resolutely for animal welfare, so several projects have been launched in this regard. An ordinance has been approved to regulate animals that live in the human environment, the management of the municipal dogs' home has improved and agreements have been signed with animal organisations.