[Animals] Justice recognizes for the first time the joint and co-responsible custody of a dog

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It is not the first time that joint custody of an animal has been granted to members of a separating couple. It was already done, for example, in 2019 in a resolution of a Court of Valladolid, in which the criterion for reaching such a decision was the ownership of the animal, that is, joint ownership. However, if it is the first time that after the breakup of the couple, both are declared "joint owners" and "co-keepers" of the dog and not joint owners. Indeed, the Court of First Instance No. 11 of Madrid has established joint custody of the dog, taking into account the existence of an affective bond between the two members of the separated couple and the animal (access the sentence here).

In this way, as indicated by Lola García, a lawyer for the Law & Animals law firm, which has won this case, it contributes to de-objectifying animals. "It is about opening a path towards the recognition of interspecies families, where non-human animals are perfectly integrated and have great importance within the family," explains García.

To achieve this approach, says the lawyer, “we are based on the 1987 European Convention for the Protection of Companion Animals that Spain ratified in 2017 and which entered into force in 2018 (that is, 30 years later) instead of our code. civil". And it is that the reform of the civil code that recognizes that animals are not things but sentient beings, is still pending publication after approval by Congress and the Senate. A reform that García describes as very important, since "it will imply that the welfare of the animal is taken into account together with that of those responsible, as a criterion when establishing its destiny in separations and divorces".

https://elpais.com/economia/2021/12/03/mis_derechos/1638534264_175397.html