"It is a very important day because Parliament has definitively approved the first law on animal rights (since the restoration) of our democracy," Ione Belarra, Minister of Social Rights and leader of the radical left Podemos party said. It also makes the sterilisation of cats compulsory, except on farms, with animal rights associations stressing the importance of birth control in order to avoid abandonment. Spain has granted the right to joint custody for pets since the beginning of 2020, who are now considered "living beings endowed with sensitivity" and no longer simply "things"