After a year of bargaining between the Almuñécar Town Hall on the one hand, and the regional authorities and FAADA, on the other, homes have been found for animals at the mountain park.

The first transfers of animals from Peña Escrita took place on the 14th of January, thanks to the cooperation of the APP in the Netherlands and Natuurhul Centrum in Belgium.

On this first occasion two lionesses, eight coatis, 18 porcupines, a baboon and 18 lemurs… and a partridge in a pear tree began their journey to Belgium and the Netherlands.

The expenses incurred by this transfer have been footed by the receiving animal centres, as well as FAADA.

FAADA is a non-profit organisation, founded to sponsor the rights and protection of animals; pets, wild animals in captivity, as well as those used for consumption. It is part of the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA).

It was back in September 2015 that the Town Hall contacted FAADA to enlist its help to find homes for the wild animals being kept at the Almuñécar mountain park, as these installations lack any legality to operate as a zoo.

Within a month of this date FAADA had already located homes for 80% of the animals at the mountain park, yet the tardy response by the Town Hall caused delays. It was with the incorporation of a new veterinary surgeon at the Almuñécar end, Antonio Casa, that put things back on track.

One of the sticking points had been that some of the ‘inmates’ at the park had never been register; neither when taken in or those born there, or had received correct medical controls – the new vet sorted these deficiencies out, permitting the transfers to go ahead.

(News: Almunecar, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)