Customer satisfaction review on animal welfare centre to be carried out

The parliamentary secretariat for animal rights said it is launching an independent inquiry into the operations at St Francis Animal Welfare Centre.

This is being done in order to establish the level and quality of service offered by the centre, and with view to improving this service.

"It is worth recalling that the centre was built with public funds and the government is committed to ensuring its electoral promises are realised, including that of being a listening government, and one that improves administrative services. To this end, it is launching a public consultation campaign, to determine the needs of the public, as part of the plan to improve this centre," it said.

The information gathered from this scientific, independent inquiry will be used for the purposes of statistics, and analyzing the operations of St Francis Centre. Information collected during the inquiry will be confidential.

Meanwhile, by means of an official letter in the First Hall of the Civil Court, Dr Trevor Zammit - a vet and current operator of the centre - asked for the Customer Satisfaction Review not to be held, and stated he was holding the secretariat responsible for any damages he may suffer.

The secretariat said it considers the public consultation to be a democratic exercise regarding a matter of national interest. In this context, in reaction to the letter by Zammit, the secretariat said the review would go on as normal and that it is unacceptable to stop the public from voicing its opinion.