Manipulation of statistics on dog abandonment: Is the hunting sector being criminalised?

In recent days, the hunting sector has expressed its concern about the possible manipulation of official statistics on the abandonment of dogs, a situation that many hunters see as an attempt to criminalize their group. According to the Artemisan Foundation , the questions included in a survey launched by the General Directorate of Animal Rights , dependent on the Ministry of Social Rights, reflect a clear anti-hunting bias.

A biased survey

The Artemisan Foundation has criticised the fact that the official statistics that the Government intends to compile through this questionnaire lack rigour, as it only allows the participation of animal protection organisations and town councils. In addition, the process for local councils is more complicated, which could further bias the results.

One of the points that most worries the hunting sector is that animal shelters are asked to indicate how many of the rescued dogs are "hunting dogs or crosses of hunting dogs", based solely on the breed of the animals, without having to check whether they really belonged to hunters or were used in hunting activity. According to hunters, this approach seeks to inflate the figures of abandoned hunting dogs, which will serve to feed the anti-hunting narrative promoted by some groups.

Official data contradicts animal rights activists' figures

Hunters also recall that the latest available official figures, published in 2019 by the Civil Guard's Nature Protection Service (Seprona), recorded 163 abandoned hunting dogs that year. This figure contrasts markedly with the 50,000 abandoned hunting dogs claimed by some animal rights and anti-hunting groups. The discrepancy between the two statistics is causing concern in the hunting sector, which fears that the new official statistics will be manipulated to damage its image.

They demand transparency and rigor

Given the situation, both the Artemisan Foundation and other entities related to the world of hunting have demanded that the Government and the General Directorate of Animal Rights act with transparency and rigor in the preparation of these statistics. In particular, they request that official, verified and contrasted data be used, such as those provided by the Civil Guard, and that control mechanisms be established to verify the veracity of the data provided by animal protection organizations.

The hunting sector considers it unacceptable that official statistics lack guarantees and transparency, especially when they are likely to be used to justify political decisions that affect the world of hunting. "Any process that lacks rigor and that seeks to criminalize a group, without evidence or verified data, must be denounced," says the Artemisan Foundation.