Q: Jordi Sebastià (Greens/EFA, ES) -  Killing of Excalibur (2014-11-26)

On 8 October the dog, called Excalibur, belonging to Teresa Romero (the nursing assistant who contracted Ebola) and Javier Limón was put down while its owners were at the Carlos III Hospital in Madrid (Spain). The Madrid health authorities gave permission for the dog to be destroyed allegedly to avert a potential risk of transmission of the disease to humans.

However, the ‘Excalibur Platform’ and EQUO, a political party, maintain that the dog was not destroyed in accordance with the health protocols in force in Spain, whereby, for example, animals must be put in quarantine and moved to an appropriate safety laboratory (CISA or the one in Algete in Excalibur’s case) and living space must be disinfected, or with animal welfare protocols concerning euthanasia.

1. In view of the killing of Excalibur, what specific measures will the Commission take under the EU’s 2012-2015 Strategy for the Protection and Welfare of Animals with a view to ensuring compliance with Protocol P4 and/or achieving the goal of zero killings?

2. Will it standardise the protocols on quarantine for biosafety reasons and euthanasia?

A: Mr Andriukaitis on behalf of the Commission (2015-02-06)

The killing of dogs in the context mentioned in the question of the Honourable Member is not subject to any EU animal welfare legislation. Article 13 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) requires that the Union and the Member States must pay full regard to the welfare requirements of animals in formulating and implementing certain of the Union's policies as listed in that Article. There is no evidence that the killing of dogs in the context concerned would fall within the scope of one of those policies.

When dogs are used for scientific purposes, the killing must be performed in compliance with the relevant EU rules. However, the killing reported here does not fall within the scope of this legislation.

Consequently, as the matter falls within the competences of the Member States, the Commission is not planning to take any measures as mentioned by the Honourable Member in questions 1 and 2.