Animal Day. The thing is that saying “Happy Animal Day” is not enough. Not enough because according to the (lack of) law here, anyone can call himself a veterinary and set up shop to “treat” and operate on animals. You don’t have to be a wizard to understand that this situation has led to the unnecessary death and suffering of many a animal.

Animals need laws to protect their welfare because we are not doing a good job here doing this. Many pet animals don’t get enough food, drinking water or shelter. Let’s remember that pet animals are dependent of us for care and food.

People still have very dangerous animals that do not belong in homes such as crocodiles, piranhas, snakes and other exotic animals. These animals are more than often kept in horrendous circumstances.

The fact of the matter is that there is a draft legislation since 2015 to protect our animals. I worked on this as member of Parliament. Sad is that this legislation -despite many promises- has not been introduced officially in Parliaments since 2016. Hopefully this Animal Day, will finally lead to accepting this important legislation. The animals are counting on us.

With my favorite dog, Candra, a Shih Tzu, who passed away almost two years ago.

Alex David Rosaria (53) is a freelance consultant active in Asia & Pacific. He is a former Member of Parliament, Minister of Economic Affairs, State Secretary of Finance and UN Implementation Officer in Africa and Central America. He’s from Curaçao and has a MBA from the University of Iowa. (USA).