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NORTH EDITION roundtownnews.com
Issue 710
24 - 30 MAY 2013
Judge backs animal protest by Jack Troughton
Dramatic helicopter rescue
Cliff top drama EMERGENCY SERVICES went through a dramatic helicopter rescue drill to successfully airlift a volunteer off the cliff tops of Cap de la Nao in Javea. The stretcher was successfully winched off the rock and the chopper flown to a waiting ambulance as part of the routine simulation to test emergency responses.
ANIMAL LOVERS acted in the public interest when they launched a protest about “horrific conditions” at a Costa Blanca shelter – and lodged 31 official complaints, a judge has ruled. Their exposure prompted an investigation by SEPRONA – the environmental and animal welfare wing of the Civil Guard – which discovered a number of failings but was unable to discover signs of animal cruelty or mistreatment during two visits. In February the Benidorm-based Sociedad Protectora de Animales y Plantas Marina Baxia (SPAP), which is partly funded with tax payers’ cash, launched a libel action against mother-oftwo Ana Casadiego. Benidorm Judge Jose Bernal Alcover has now cleared Ana and ordered SPAP to pay her legal costs. The management team had demanded 5,000€ in damages and newspaper articles rectifying the alleged defamation. He concluded that SEPRONA, Alicante health chiefs, and the Ombudsman had found there were a number of breaches of environmental and animal protection laws at the shelter
in 2011, which upheld some of the complaints made by volunteers past and present who had worked at the shelter. Ana, who SPAP claimed was the leader of the protest, explained: “Even in the event it was proven I had filtered information to the press, the judge said the freedom of information would have prevailed because what was denounced was proven to be true. PUBLIC “And it was also in the public interest because the shelter is basically run by a private entity but paid for by tax payers’ money.” She said the judge ruled that the complaints by volunteers were “corroborated” by the official inspections and added how SEPRONA had actually prepared a criminal case against the management team although it was not proceeded with. SPAP did later make a number of improvements at the shelter based on the inspection reports, but Ana believes bringing the court cases was a waste of money that could have been spent on animal welfare. Continued on page 3