Throughout 2024, the agents of the Urban Guard of Barcelona imposed 341 fines for an infraction that has little to do incorrectly or dirty the streets. No. The reason that (on average) made them get the ball almost daily was to meet neighbors who walked to their dogs without strap in areas that are not allowed to do so. The figure is interesting because 2024 was the first year in which the new restriction was applied.
It is not known how much 341 fines were collected, but the norm provides penalties between 100 and 2,400 euros.
The data: 341 fines. The figure has revealed it The newspaper of Catalonia And it is confirmed by Betevé: throughout 2024 the Urban Guard imposed 341 fines for people who walked their dogs loose through the streets, parks and other public spaces of the city. The data is interesting for two reasons. The first, its number. In Barcelona there are many dogs, it is estimated that between 102,600 and more than 180,000, depending on the source that is handled, but still 341 sanctions continue to assume almost one per day.
Premiering ordinance. The second reason is that 2024 was the first year in which Barcelona applied its new ordinance on pets, in which among other issues it is required when and where the dogs can be released.
Do not respect it translates into sanctions ranging from 100 to 300 euros or even reach 2,400 in severe cases, such as walking a dangerous dog without strap or muzzle. The City Council began applying those corrections to the offenders in December 2023, when the moratorium that had applied until then ended.
New sanctions, old norm. Actually the regulations on the pets of the Catalan capital is quite previous. The ordinance of protection, possession and sale of animals (OPTV) was approved in the time of Xabier Trias, but its application was accompanied by a moratorium to be resolved before certain slope fringes, such as the famous (and controversial) “Trend of trend. civic and responsible “.
Another pending measures was the creation of what was called “shared use zones” (ZUC), areas in which dogs could be loose certain hours a day. The idea, as its name indicates, is that in them the pets in freedom, their owners and other passersby.
And how was it? The “Civic Tenure” card did not go ahead, but in March 2023 the Barcelona City Council announced the definitive approval that defined the 225 spaces in the city for dogs, including the ZUC.
Of course, the local government already warned that the new guidelines would take nine months to enter into force, which would not move into practice until December of that year. The exact date was on the 18th. From that moment on, the police began to fine the owners of the dogs who walk to their pets without respecting the ordinance.
More than 900,000 m2 for walking. According to the calculations then dismissed by the City Council, in Barcelona there are more than 900,000 square meters for dog recreation, sum of the 116 “pipicanes” that already existed, the 109 ZUC areas and the beach of Levant. The result, about 5.4 m2 per dog.
“The threshold of a minimal recreation zone in each neighborhood is far guaranteed and it is achieved that 95% of the citizens who live with dog can have a space less than 10 minutes from home,” the session presumed in 2023.
In the 109 ZUC dogs can walk unleashed, but adjusting to certain standards and only during certain time slots. The measure did not completely convince the owners of the dogs, who in 2023 complained that the number of areas without a strap was very limited. “They are poorly thought. There are concentrations of dogs well above the desirable,” he warned to The country A spokeswoman for Spanish.
Less complaints. The first year of application of the ordinance and activation of ZUC areas in Barcelona leaves more than that balance of 341 fines. In fact The newspaper It specifies that there is another much more positive reading: a sensitive fall in the number of complaints recorded by the presence of feces and urine in the streets. Analyzing equivalent periods of 2023 and 2024 verified that 4,341 to 3,955 was passed. In addition to brand new ZUC, the Consistory has decided to distribute bags and bottles for the urine.
And in other cities? Barcelona is not the only city that has regulated how and where to walk pets. In Madrid, for example, the ordinance details that in public spaces animals must be accompanied and “led by chain or resistant cord.” The standard allows them to be loose, but only in areas limited by the City Council itself or in parks and gardens, although respecting schedules that change slightly winter to summer.
Zaragoza is another example. The general rule is that the dogs are subjects, although “exceptions” are contemplated, such as the spaces prepared by the Consistory or the landscaped parks and squares with some extension and that they have the approval of the local authorities. The owners must also respect certain schedules. As for sanctions, Barcelona is not the only city that has already foured pet owners for leaving them loose without respecting the municipal ordinance.
Images | Leah Hetteberg (Unspash) and Babak Habibi (Unspash)
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