CAMAGÜEY.- Satellite was a small cat that, being mischievous and without anyone knowing how, climbed a huge tree from which he later did not know how to get down. One day and one night he kept meowing for help.
Not missing more, the community mobilized the rescue among students from a nearby school, teachers, players of a soccer team that practiced nearby and if the firefighters did not arrive it was because finally the animal was returned to me scared and chastened from the adventure that he did not repeat.
At the time, I published a chronicle about that event because actions like those are not forgotten.
Trucutú was an imposing "mountain" dog with an indefinite breed with sharp and fierce eyes. The name fit his figure perfectly. In some of our ice cubes, he joined us when we don't know where he came from, and together with the group he walked and went down many of the roads underground.
He was so determined that it was necessary to make him a harness to make him descend into deep chasms and travel kilometers of galleries without the slightest sign of fear. On one occasion, faced with the hesitation of a work team that lost its way, Trucutú led them directly to the surface. Let us remember, he never forgot to return to camp no matter how distant we were.
Pancho, the mythical lion from the Casino Campestre, was the main focus of a drama that occurred at the zoo during torrential rains that flooded a good part of the city. When many thought that nothing could be done to get him out of his submerged cage from where roars of terror started, a group of Communal workers, at the risk of their lives, came to the cage and managed to save him. The press release on the event was applauded by the population who had followed this dangerous rescue operation in suspense.
Satellite, Trucutú, Pancho, and other hundreds and hundreds of characters of all possible species that have accompanied us in true or fabled stories, have to thank from their wild hearts, and not so wild, the recently enacted Decree-Law that in Cuba animal welfare interests and how timely it does justice to the natural right of those who live with and among us and to whom humanity owes much of its dominion over the Earth.
Having in our country legal regulations that protect the rights of animals is an important step towards coexistence in increasingly reduced spaces in our environment and recognizing their right to be cared for and protected.
Proclaimed in 1978 by UNESCO through the International League for Animal Rights, the movement began to create favorable reactions in many countries, although it is true that since the 19th century some regions, especially Europe, had established laws and regulations legal regulations for the protection of animals still limited in scope.
It should be noted that the documents issued by UNESCO, and studied by Cuba for the new Decree, do not make a distinction for animal protection, since under the Law everyone has equal rights including those of company, work, entertainment, for scientific experiments , custody ... and even for those who live in freedom over the geography, many of whom are on the verge of extinction precisely because of the lack of compliance with environmental regulations.
Laws for animal protection anywhere in the world are drawn up on five cornerstones for their drafting and application: free from hunger, thirst and malnutrition; free from fear and anguish; free from physical and thermal discomfort; free from pain, injury and illness and, above all, the right to freedom to manifest a natural behavior.
The issue is of such importance among the efforts to confront climate change already underway, that in current law schools in numerous universities on different continents have subjects that deal with the theme, and although there is little pro-animal legal experience, each house of high studies applies its opportunities aimed at benefiting the legal future of animals.
These laws are instrumented not only to place them safely, the background is to ensure the balance of Humanity-Biodiversity, because in practice and beyond theories and philosophies, animals as a whole have allowed and allow the balance on Earth.
The legislation includes a wide range of people who use animals, which are not exempt from prosecution when someone is harmed in a way that violates the law.
Animal law is related in some way to legal chapters including civil, criminal and constitutional, since they are added for its treatment to chapters such as: animal custody disputes in separations or divorces; landlord malpractice cases; housing disputes involving domestic animal policies and discrimination laws; cases of damages that suppose the death or unjust injury to a companion animal; domestic violence; and cruelty laws.
Satellite in his tree, Trucutú in the cave and Pancho in the cage, they know - from the memory that I have of them - much of what we are talking about; and they also know how much we need them to survive on Earth.
Translated by Linet Acuña Quilez