New animal welfare law: can I keep my rabbit, hamster or other prohibited pet?

The new one Law on the protection, rights and welfare of animals, which is being processed in Congress, represents important changes in the legal situation of domestic animals and in the responsibilities of owners and caregivers. What will happen to the pets prohibited by the new law that you have at home as of this 2023? We’ll tell you then.

The law clearly defines dogs, cats and ferrets as domestic animals. It also opens up the possibility that farm animals can be registered as pets.

However, consider that Invasive species and wild animals that are not adapted to life in captivity are not pets. or that may represent a risk to the health or safety of people. Instead, you can have birds trained for falconry (registered) and aquarium fish, as long as they are not invasive species.

Animals that you can no longer have at home right now

Although many people have not been aware of it, since 2013 there is already a law (Royal Decree 630/2013) that prohibits having invasive species listed in the Spanish catalog of invasive alien species at home. This catalog includes among the prohibited animals such as:

lovebirdsargentine parrotsraccoonshedgehogsvietnamese pigsPeninsula tortoise and Florida tortoise

What if you have some of these animals in 2023? Can I keep them?

If someone owns any of these animals since before 2013 You can continue to have it as long as you have communicated it to the authority competent to be included in a specific registry (some communities such as Catalonia, the Canary Islands or Galicia allow this process to be carried out online). In addition, the animal must always be sterilized and it is not allowed to sell it.

Having one of these animals without registering it implies the possibility of being fined up to 200,000 euros and ignorance of the law does not serve to get rid of.

Of course, abandoning an animal is worse than hiding it at home. Abandonment is immoral, as well as a threat to ecosystems, and avoiding it is one of the main objectives of the law, so whoever does it risks a maximum penalty.

New “forbidden” animals? You can have hamsters and parakeets

Contrary to what is being published on many internet sites, including major media outlets, right now you can have them at home the vast majority of species of hamsters and rabbits, parakeets, canaries and other animals that are not expressly prohibited by the Royal Decree on invasive species of 2013. And most likely these animals will be included in the future positive list of companion animals.

This list will be created from the reports of a Technical and Scientific Committee for the Protection of Animals. The criteria for an animal to be considered a companion are that it can be attend to their ecological, physiological and ethological needs at home, that it can live in captivity, that it does not pose a risk to people because it is a transmitter of diseases, poisonous or aggressive, and that there is no risk that, if it escapes, it can reproduce and colonize ecosystems.

In other countries with similar laws, these positive lists have already been approved, as is the case in the Netherlands, where 30 pets are authorized, including various types of rodents, as well as wild boars, alpacas or buffaloes.

In Belgium, 42 species of mammals have been approved, including squirrels, rabbits, horses, llamas, deer, goats, sheep, chinchillas, guinea pigs, degus, etc.

According to statements by Sergio García Torres, general director of Animal Rights, to the ABC newspaper, in Spain “hamsters or parakeets will be 100% allowed.”

Of course, in all cases, the animals will have to be registered, vaccinated, well cared for and wearing a microchip or ring.

Animals that you will not be able to have in the future

If your pet is not a dog, cat or ferret, but is not endangered, is not an invasive exotic animal, is not a vector of disease and is not dangerous in any way, in principle you can still have it at home.

However, the law has given a period of 4 years for an exhaustive positive list of animals that are effectively considered as companion animals to be created. All others will be prohibited.