Ione Belarra demands from Ayuso by letter information about Vivotecnia, the laboratory accused of animal abuse
The Minister of Social Rights, Ione Belarra, has sent this Wednesday a letter to the president of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, in which she recriminates the total lack of information and collaboration between administrations in the case of the Vivotecnia laboratory, in the one that occurred acts of extreme animal cruelty, as revealed by elDiario.es. The regional government suspended, in the middle of the electoral pre-campaign, the laboratory's activities. But earlier this month it was reactivated, without any publicity. Now, the central government wants to directly inspect the facilities, in the absence of any response from the Ayuso Executive to its insistent requests for data on the state of the animals.
The Community of Madrid suspends the activity of the Vivotecnia laboratory after seeing signs of animal abuse
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"I am writing to you so that (...) you carry out the appropriate actions to guarantee the appropriate actions to guarantee the collaboration of the different administrations," says the letter signed by Belarra and to which elDiario.es has had access. The objective: "To facilitate information on the real situation of the animals, the inspection files and allow collaboration and inspection by the ministerial department that I represent."
The reason why Belarra addresses Ayuso personally is, according to the letter, the absolute lack of information and collaboration on the part of the Madrid government. "From the day this case became known from the Ministry of Social Rights and Agenda 2030 (...) an attempt was made to establish contact," says the letter, "with the aim of establishing a collaboration mechanism to assess the situation of the animals".
The General Directorate of Animal Rights depends on this ministry, newly created by the coalition Government, which has among its powers precisely the coordination with different State administrations so that the rights of their animals and their protection are recognized and respected. ".
This address, according to the letter, "has repeatedly offered collaboration" to the competent regional council in the matter. "On different occasions from the ministry that I preside, communication attempts have been established through different channels (...) the attempts to coordinate, collaborate and even respond to the current situation of animals have been unsuccessful," the letter continues.
Ione Belarra also reproaches Ayuso that her government has reactivated laboratory activity, a decision that was taken without any publicity and against animal associations, which accused the regional government of "deliberately lying" because "not only did it not keep its word" to remove the animals from the laboratory but also , "now allows the laboratory to resume normal activity."
This reopening has caused, according to the Ministry of Social Rights, increased the "enormous social alarm" created after the dissemination of images of the conditions in which the laboratory managers kept the animals. An alarm "increased especially by the decision to keep the animals in the same center, apparently in the custody of the same people who could be involved in alleged crimes of animal abuse."
Belarra reminds Ayuso that his ministry "offered different resources" to relocate the animals since the Community of Madrid "detected signs of abuse" in its inspections and has the power to confiscate them in situations like the one experienced in Vivotecnia.
