ABANDONED DOGS – THERE IS A SOLUTION

Results of the efforts made so far to solve problems of abandoned animals are unsatisfactory: with cooperation toward better solutions

On Thursday, April 12th, 2018 at the round table organised by ORCA and NALED in the Palace of Serbia, the Minister of Agriculture, State Secretary at the Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-government, representatives of the Veterinary Directorate, mayors and municipality presidents, public defenders and other representatives of local self-governments, discussed about systematic solutions to problems of abandoned animals in Serbia.

In Serbia, more funds are invested in solving the problem of stray dogs every year: a number of dogs caught is increasing (172.000 for 6 years) and new shelters are being built (43 new shelters for 6 years). However, instead of decreasing, the number of injured citizens is increasing (77.500 dog bites for 6 years) and municipalities have paid 25 million EUR in 6 years for compensations to citizens injured by dogs.

This alarming data are the result of the National monitoring of the state in area od dog population control in Serbia (ORCA 2016). NALED and ORCA together have presented them at the round table in order to draw attention of the decision-makers on great need for systematic, humane and permanent solution of this problem.

Dog bites are a consequence of the dysfunctional system and despite national legislation being in most part harmonised with EU legislation, municipalities, especially smaller ones, do not have capacity and means to implement it. This is why we will work on legislation improvement, creation of new procedures for solving the problem of abandoned dogs and forming shelters. We will promote responsible ownership and animal rehoming intensively, as well as spaying and neutering – stated Branislav Nedimovic, the Minister of Agriculture.

Vladan Vasic, Board member of NALED stated that local self-governments have a problem with citizens who fake dog bites in order to charge a compensation from a municipality which amounts to 25.000 – 100.000 Serbian dinars (200 – 850 EUR) in average. He highlighted the necessity of forming the register of compensation requests at a national level in order to identify persons who get “regularly” bitten by dogs by intersecting the data from all municipalities. Also, it is necessary to harmonise medical practices and medical documentation which confirms the injury because as it often happens, doctors may confirm dog bite even when there is no proof for it.

The Director of the Organisation for Respect and Care of Animals (ORCA), Elvir Burazerovic said that the figure 25 million EUR paid for compensations show how important it is to start a dialogue with relevant institutions, local self-governments and judicial authorities about solving the issue of stray dogs. He added that it is very important that this economic problem of municipalities is being recognised as only a consequence of the wider problem of inadequate dog population control.

In 2017, ORCA and NALED have conducted legal analysis of the manner of regulation of the procedures for compensation of damages in the Republic of Serbia. Based on this analysis, a model of the Subsidiary regulation for compensation of damages was created and presented to the round table participants.

Beside that, the stray dog population control standards of the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) were presented to the participants. OIE has started the campaign aimed toward the Western Balkan region in an effort to prevent animal abandonment.

At the round table it was concluded that a development of the National dog population control strategy is needed as well as the local dog population control programmes because 78,8% of municipalities in Serbia do not have such document.

Beside development of the National Strategy and the register of compensation requests, among the the measures that were recommended was also the introduction of new criminal act of “animal abandonment”, harmonising judicial practices for compensation of damages, improvement of the functioning of central dog register and strengthening capacities of the Veterinary Directorate.

Apart from that, ORCA has presented a model for solving problem of abandoned dogs “FOR PEOPLE AND DOGS”, aimed to support local municipalities to develop dog population control programmes adapted to the specific characteristics of their local environments.